Indians make most use of business trips: Survey

Indian travellers splurge the most during business trips when compared globally, a recent travel survey has revealed.

Analysing the behavior and preferences among travellers across Asia Pacific, Europe, North America and South America, Expedia.com, the world's largest online travel agency and Egencia, the business travel arm of Expedia said Indian is amongst the fastest growing business travel markets globally and is expected to be a $50 billion market by 2017.

The joint survey on the Future of Travel also said that India's business travel industry is maturing rapidly, and added that Indian businessmen expects the best in class technology.

The survey was conducted online fromAugust 20 to September 12, 2013 by Harris Interactive among 8,535 respondents in 24 countries.

"The survey shows a clear progression of Indian travellers with respect to increasing number of trips annually, bothbusiness and leisure.In fact, Indian travellers splurge most during business trips when compared globally. The rise in trips has also led to an increase in travel research and bookings on the move, with 64% leisure travellers and 51% business travellers agreeing upon using smartphone or tablets for travel booking. To facilitate our consumers, we have been focusing on the mobility segment with regular up-gradations in our mobile application and mobile web page for ease of use. The idea is to make it one stop shop solution on the go," said Vikram Malhi, General Manager, South and Southeast Asia, Expedia.

"India is amongst the fastest growing business travel markets globally and is expected to be a US$ 50 Billion market by 2017. The business travel industry in India is maturing very quickly. The Indian business traveller expects best in class technology, as we can see in the increased adoption of the Egencia Self Booking Technology solutions and use of Egencia mobile applications. We see the future of the business travel in India to be led by companies like Egencia who are bringing in best in class technology, automation andglobal best practices to the Indian business traveller. This research validates our focus on the Indian business industry and its key drivers. It offers valuable insights to corporate travel buyers to refine their enterprise travel policies and purchase behavior to influence individual purchase choices" said Gaurav Sundaram, Country Director EgenciaIndia.

The detailed findings of the survey are as follows:

Trip Frequency

Business (3/24 - total not 100 in Leisure travel)

Frequent travellers, more than 5 trips a year- 44 percent Indians, 39 per cent Thailand

12 per cent Indians, 14 per cent Thailand, 18 per cent Mexicans don't travel for business, lowest globally