Indians travelling more on longer duration trips, says survey

Off-season discounts have led to Indians travelling more frequently since there is a 25 per cent growth in foreign trips during the past three to five years and almost 30 per cent on the domestic circuit, according to a survey report.
"While 25 per cent respondents have increased the frequency of their foreign trips during the past three to five years, almost 30 per cent have done so on the domestic circuit," a ICICI Lombard Travel Trends 2014 survey report released here today said.
While off-season discounts drive this behaviour for 39 per cent international travellers, unplanned trips are the key reason behind more frequent domestic tours for 57 per cent of respondents, the report said.

"Rise in disposable income (63 per cent) and discounts (49 per cent) drives longer duration stay on both domestic and international circuits," it said.
"The survey reveals interesting trends in terms of Indians travelling more frequently and on longer duration trips, driven by higher disposable income and discounts. Despite increased travel behaviour, purchase of travel insurance especially for travel to Asian countries and in the domestic sector remains extremely low," ICICI Lombard GIC Chief, Underwriting and Claims, Sanjay Datta said.
The survey covered 1,063 respondents across a mix of metros and smaller cities, including Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Chandigarh who have travelled to international as well as domestic locations.

With more frequent travel, domestic travellers also enjoyed longer vacations (27 per cent) within the country compared to overseas trips (19 per cent) in the last three to five years, the survey said.