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Rising costs prevented more than half of Indian travellers from taking a vacation in the last five years, according to a recent Holiday spend survey by travel company Expedia. An average of 56% of Indians decided not to take a vacation in the last 5 years because of cost reasons.Around 32% saying cost has prevented them from taking a vacation in the last 2 years as against a global average of 50%.
The survey also revealed that Indians - 85% -- are some of the most likely in the world to save for their vacations in advance and have a dedicated vacation fund. Most Indians save for the vacation six months in advance. By contrast, travelers from Japan-- 53%-- and the Netherlands-- 55%-- are least likely to save in advance for their vacations.
Indians top the global list of travellers who hate to pay for travel, out-of-country medical and car rental insurance. They also dedicate the largest share of their travel budget to flights -19%, followed by accommodation 16% and food 14%. The least amount of the travel budget goes to alcoholic beverages at 4%.
When it comes to splurging, Indian travellers are more likely than their global counterparts to pay extra for a room with a view, hotel with room service or restaurant, in-flight wi-fi, transportation related services etc. Globally, the survey said that Hong Kongers 88% and Indians 87% splurge most on hotel related spends.
In flight most Indians (76%) like to buy food, shop for duty free goods at the airport (80%). The study was conducted among 11,165 adults across 24 countries on behalf of Expedia by Northstar, a globally integrated strategic insights consulting firm.
