After three years of flat prices, travellers expense for overnight accommodation rose two per cent globally in 2017, according to the latest Hotel Price Index from Hotels.com. Every regional Index, except for North America, grew in 2017, signalling strong growth in the travel industry.
The HPI was set at 100 in its inaugural year, 2004. The index format allows Hotels.com to highlight year-over-year variations in actual prices paid per night by travellers without foreign exchange fluctuations distorting the picture.
Johan Svanstrom, president, Hotels.com said, “The slight increase in average accommodation prices globally combined with numerous markets having record visitor growth signals a strong travel economy and a growing desire from consumers to experience the world. Cultural events have inspired travel more than ever before as we aspire not to just stand by and observe the action, but to instead actually be part of it.”
Due to the implementation of new economic policies and GST in 2017, which introduced multiple tax slabs to cover different hotel categories, Indian hotel prices have witnessed an increase for the year. The HPI 2017 also revealed that despite the overall price increase for accommodation globally, outbound Indian travellers paid less per room per night in six of the top 10 (USA, UK, Malaysia, Germany, Indonesia and Italy) outbound destinations. This could be caused by the strong performance of the Rupee in 2017, which rose 5.5 percent against the US dollar in 2017.
Top 10 countries for outbound Indian travellers in 2017 (in INR)
|
Country |
2017 rank |
2016 rank |
Average price paid in 2017 (INR) |
Average price paid in 2016 (INR) |
% Change of average price paid (INR) |
|
United States of America |
1 |
1 |
10,512 |
10,828 |
-3% |
|
Thailand |
2 |
2 |
5,921 |
5,794 |
2% |
|
United Arab Emirates |
3 |
4 |
8,952 |
8,850 |
1% |
|
United Kingdom |
4 |
3 |
11,550 |
12,277 |
-6% |
|
Singapore |
5 |
5 |
9,624 |
9,475 |
2% |
|
France |
6 |
7 |
9,603 |
9,354 |
3% |
|
Malaysia |
7 |
9 |
4,863 |
4,977 |
-2% |
|
Germany |
8 |
6 |
9,656 |
9,975 |
-3% |
|
Indonesia |
9 |
10 |
6,954 |
7,202 |
-3% |
|
Italy |
10 |
8 |
9,748 |
9,853 |
-1% |
The strong Pound – Indian Rupee (GBP/INR) exchange rate has shown that Indians continue to spend the most on accommodation in UK but interestingly, travellers paid a notable six per cent less per room per night in UK vis-à-vis 2016.
The HPI data also shows the evolving trend towards experiential travel and exploring new cities among Indian travellers, with a growing preference for destinations such as Edinburgh (UK) and Zurich (Switzerland) that made surprise entries into top 50 most popular outbound destinations, clocking in at positions 47 and 50 respectively.
Doha (Qatar) saw a jump of 45 places to 62nd position, Milwaukee (USA) saw a jump of 39 places to land at 89th position and Foshan (China) saw a substantial jump of 69 places, securing a position in the top 100 destinations for Indian travellers.
The latest HPI also saw Indian travellers reiterating their travel preference to perennial short haul destinations in Asia Pacific such as Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. The top 10 popular outbound cities for Indian travellers was dominated by Asia-Pacific cities (Bangkok, Singapore, Pattaya, Bali, Kuala Lampur and Hong Kong). The bucket saw little change since 2016, except Kuala Lumpur which made its way to the top 10, after a close miss last year.
Top 10 Indian cities for inbound travellers 2017
|
City |
2017 rank |
2016 rank |
Average price paid in 2017 (INR) |
Average price paid in 2016 (INR) |
% Change of average price paid (INR) |
|
New Delhi |
1 |
1 |
7,748 |
7,700 |
1% |
|
Mumbai |
2 |
2 |
9,598 |
9,417 |
2% |
|
Bengaluru |
3 |
3 |
7,635 |
7,731 |
-1% |
|
Chennai |
4 |
5 |
6,444 |
6,346 |
2% |
|
Goa |
5 |
4 |
8,104 |
7,696 |
5% |
|
Hyderabad |
6 |
7 |
6,945 |
6,913 |
0% |
|
Jaipur |
7 |
6 |
6,474 |
6,444 |
0% |
|
Kolkata |
8 |
9 |
7,200 |
7,084 |
2% |
|
Pune |
9 |
8 |
7,152 |
6,521 |
10% |
|
Cochin |
10 |
11 |
6,121 |
6,567 |
-7% |
Top 10 Indian cities for domestic travel in 2017
|
City |
2017 rank |
2016 rank |
Average price paid in 2017 (INR) |
Average price paid in 2016 (INR) |
% Change of average price paid (INR) |
|
Mumbai |
1 |
2 |
7,783 |
7,446 |
5% |
|
New Delhi |
2 |
1 |
6,415 |
6,283 |
2% |
|
Goa |
3 |
3 |
7,048 |
6,938 |
2% |
|
Bengaluru |
4 |
4 |
5,203 |
5,157 |
1% |
|
Chennai |
5 |
5 |
4,973 |
4,770 |
4% |
|
Hyderabad |
6 |
6 |
4,825 |
4,624 |
4% |
|
Jaipur |
7 |
7 |
5,143 |
4,661 |
10% |
|
Kolkata |
8 |
9 |
6,066 |
5,990 |
1% |
|
Pune |
9 |
8 |
5,085 |
5,376 |
-5% |
|
Ahmedabad |
10 |
10 |
4,668 |
4,535 |
3% |
Metropolitan cities dominate the Domestic and Inbound travel market
Pune as a destination stands out due to the contrast in the amount spent between international and domestic travellers in 2017. While international travellers spent more on room nights in Pune – evident by a 10 per cent YoY increase, spends on accommodation by the domestic travellers dropped by five per cent.
The presence of metropolitan cities such as Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai and Bangalore – bears testament to the prominence of business travel. The most popular beach getaway of the country – Goa – also secured a position in the top five cities among inbound and domestic travellers.
Jessica Chuang, director, Regional Marketing Greater China, SEA and India for the Hotels.com brand, said, “Travel and Tourism has been one of the major contributors to the overall Indian economy and has subsequently witnessed added focus from both private and public sector bodies. Accommodation being a chief component for any travel plan be it leisure or business, has seen a spike in not just emergence of new players but also renewed zeal from existing brands and this seems to have been paying off.”
She added, “Keeping a pulse on what makes travellers – Indian and global – tick is something we at Hotels.com take extremely seriously. Year-on-year, HPI has helped us understand which destinations customers are willing to spend on, and this helps us align ourselves better to cater to their needs. It was encouraging to observe that average daily price paid for both domestic and inbound segments for the India market saw positive movement reinforcing the fact that India is a popular destination across global traveller demographic.”