Performance marketing technology company Criteo has unveiled new findings from its latest research on the growth of the mobile travel segment in India, conducted by Euromonitor International. The report highlights that mobile travel sales in India are on a high; and are further expected to rise at 67.1 per cent CAGR from 2017 to 2020.
Increased willingness to spend and the rise of on-arrival visas has led to Indian consumers vacationing more frequently and spending more on travel as a reward for their families. This is resulting in healthy growth of international and domestic trips as well as expenditure on leisure. According to the Criteo report, CAGR of consumer expenditure on leisure would be 9.9 per cent from 2017 to 2020.
Dushyant Sapre, commercial director, Criteo India, said, “The Indian travel landscape is changing rapidly, and has seen significant growth in the last decade. With the rise of online travel agencies (OTAs), an increase in domestic flights and mid-budget segment hotels, Indian travellers have started spending on leisure and travel heavily. Thus, the trend of weekend trips and seasonal travel has become popular among Indians. Tech-savvy millennials primarily browse for best travel packages and in-destination activities through their mobile phones and OTA mobile apps.”
He further added, “The biggest challenge faced by marketers today is providing a consistent consumer experience across online and offline. With its Universal Match technology and omni-channel strategy to bridge offline with online, Criteo is helping the travel industry to overcome these challenges. More and more marketers now understand and include personalised ad targeting on all devices in their marketing mix. This trend will continue to evolve and help marketers create a sustainable competitive advantage beyond just pricing and packages.”
The report further maps the evolving pattern of the Indian digital traveller and states that ownership of digital devices, accessibility to the internet, the convenience of online booking, various payment modes and favourable pricing are the key driving forces for online travel shopping.
The price conscious, smart Indian traveller does intensive research and compares prices before buying a travel package online. Therefore, about 59 per cent people browse travel websites over the weekend, according to the survey. About 80 per cent of people from all age groups prefer to browse and search for travel products and services when they are at home.
According to Criteo’s research, millennials (54 per cent) and baby boomers (44 per cent) most often use the smartphone for online browsing of travel products and services, while Gen Xers (49 per cent) use laptops.
Millennials and baby boomers browse for travel products online mostly because of convenience, however, Gen Xers look for accessibility. The survey further highlighted that on average, a person took 6.7 trips in the past 12 months with an average spending on a leisure trip of INR 55,176 while debit and credit cards are the most popular modes of payment.
As per the report, 90 per cent of the target audience has seen retargeted ads and 68 per cent have clicked on retargeted ads while browsing. When it comes to advertising of OTAs, platforms on social media have garnered them good brand recall values. This is also an attribute to overall online travel sales growth.
Travellers these days prefer booking online directly with airlines or hotels, or through OTAs mainly because it’s easier to change and cancel their bookings. Also, the user-friendly interface and cheap deals attract their attention.
According to the report, 57 per cent of Indian digital travellers are most influenced by travel website reviews, posts and forums, especially in the case of millennials. However, they are also influenced by experience from their last trip (50 per cent), as well as internet advertisements of the destination and travel services (56 per cent), respectively.