54 per cent Indian travellers prefer flat discounts: Survey

As more and more people in the country are bitten by the travel bug, a recent survey found that 54 per cent of Indian travellers prefer flat discounts when it comes to travel bookings.
"About 54 per cent of Indian travellers prefer flat discounts when it comes to travel bookings," a recent survey commissioned by Skyscanner, a leading global travel search engine, revealed.
The survey, done on online platform with close to 1,000 respondents across the country, studied the booking habits and preferences of Indian travellers, and found that 38 per cent seek flexibility of cancellation and rescheduling of their flights, while 37 per cent hunt for packaged deals and offers.

"With over 116 million Internet-enabled smart phones, more and more Indian travellers are moving away from traditional methods of booking to a more evolved eco-system where they complete their transaction after browsing through all the available deals and discounts available," Skyscanner India Senior Marketing Manager Kavitha Gnanamurthy said.
She said with the advancements in technology and increase of mobile and smart phone adoption, travellers now have the flexibility to plan a trip according to their budget - all at the convenience of their fingertips.
The survey revealed that while 45 per cent of Indians prefer to make their travel booking on personal computers, increasingly more and more travellers are booking through apps via their mobile and tablet devices (27 per cent), followed by mobile web (13 per cent).

Convenience being the contributing factor to this trend, regular updates on promotional offers have also prompted the shift in how Indian travellers plan and book travel, it said.

With credit card penetration at 21 million, the survey also witnessed a changing trend among Indian travellers when it comes to payment methods.
According to it, credit cards (49 per cent) and debit cards (32 per cent) are the most preferred modes of payment by travellers.
The survey also found that about 31 per cent of Indian travellers prefer completing their transaction through Internet banking, while a small percentage (5 per cent) of respondents favour PayPal as a mode of payment.

On the other hand, the survey highlighted the barriers which hinder Indians from completing their transaction on their mobile device, with 38 per cent of Indian travellers believe there are accompanying security issues, and 33 per cent of respondents find it inconvenient.