Highlighting the eating and spending habits amongst travellers, women have let out a collective cheer for food over shopping when holidaying, according to a recent survey by Skyscanner, a global travel search engine. Around 59 per cent of the women surveyed, prefer spending more on food in preference to sight-seeing and adventure sports (18 per cent), or even shopping (35 per cent).
Kavitha Gnanamurthy, senior marketing manager, Skyscanner India said, “Skyscanner’s ‘Food and Spending’ survey discloses the habits of Indian travellers on the go. Not only do they choose to travel to off-beat locations for un-conventional adventure sports, but the Indian traveller today also experiments with food and is keen to explore the local culture of their holiday destination. Skyscanner’s search engine, designed to show the best prices for the maximum of travel options available to Indian travellers, is the perfect tool to guide adventurous Indians as they plan, book and explore their travel hot-spot.”
Indians are known for their love for food so it’s no surprise that Indian travellers ensure that they carry their favourite namkeen when holidaying oversees. The survey reveals that even though Matthi and Khakra top the charts in the packed snacks category, Indians love exploring the local food at their holiday spot. While 42 per cent of the Indian travellers spend money on food as opposed to other activities, a mere 38 per cent watch their diet.
With only 24 per cent of travellers making cash payments and a mere nine per cent using ATMs in foreign countries, use of plastic money is the most popular mode of monetary transactions when travelling overseas. Though a small number (eight per cent), but traveller’s cheque as a mode of payment is fast gaining popularity amongst Indian travellers. When it comes to currency conversion, the survey noted that 53 per cent of travellers prefer converting currencies at Banks vis-à-vis Airport arrivals (23 per cent) and departure airports (17 per cent). The survey also reveals that only eight per cent of Indian travellers invest the balance currency, 37 per cent encash it, 28 per cent restore it for their next travel and 22 per cent choose to spend the remains at duty free.
Though Indians have just returned back from the holiday season, the process of planning trips to unexplored territories in 2015 has begun already. With seven extended weekends in 2015, the year will surely see a surge in travel. To help travellers spot their next great adventure, Skyscanner recently revealed a list of top nine destinations that it expects will strike a chord with travel fanatics in the current year. These hot spots range from sun-kissed islands of Taipei to mainstream, well-known destinations such as Mykonos and Colombo to the more intrepid destinations of Siem Reip.