'98% Indian travellers comment about their interests online'

A whopping 98% of Indian travellers comment about their interests online and Asia- Pacific travellers want more social media and cannot go on holiday without their smartphones and laptops, says a study.

Travellers from Asia-Pacific countries are both most enthusiastic about social media and most attached to their mobile devices in the world, according to Text100's Digital Index: Travel and Tourism study.

The study, which covered on 4,600 respondents in 13 countries, suggests that Asia-Pacific consumers lead the way in using social media to inspire, purchase and share their travel experiences.

"Widespread Asia-Pacific enthusiasm for social media is definitely not a signal for the travel industry to invest solely in digital," said Anne Costello, Text100's Regional Director, APAC.

"Travel and tourism operators need to integrate their traditional and new communications channels, but more importantly they need to focus on delivering content which their customers actually want to receive," Costello added.

The study also found that 89% of Asia-Pacific travellers use travel apps on their smartphones or tablets while on holiday, primarily for information about local attractions and finding their way around.

This 'always-on' tendency, however, means that Asia- Pacific travellers find it harder to switch-off on holiday than any others, 34% use their mobile devices to do work while on holiday, compared to a global average of 22%, the study said.

"As the fastest adopters of digital technology when it comes to travel, Asia-Pacific consumers are experiencing more benefits and challenges alike than the rest of the world.

"As a result, these tech-savvy travellers feel the travel industry needs to do more to keep up with their fast-growing reliance on mobile device and social media as part of the overall travel experience," it said.

Seventy-two% of travellers from Asia-Pacific countries have used social media to inspire at least one element of their recent holidays, compared to only 51% of travellers globally, it said.

Despite this appetite for digital communication, many Asia-Pacific consumers still base travel decisions on more traditional sources of influence. 48% say traditional travel agents still help in planning their holidays, while 57% are influenced by travel TV programmes.

Asia-Pacific countries include India, China, Malaysia, Singapore among others.