TripAdvisor has revealed its annual travel round-up for 2014 and trends forecast for the coming year.    

2014 – YEAR IN A RECAP

Travel Spend

The year began with an optimistic outlook for travel plans for Indians with results of the TripBarometer study (April 2014) painting a positive picture for the global travel industry. As per the findings, overall travellers planned to spend more on their holidays in 2014 with the average annual traveller spend rising from US$5,955 in 2013 to US $6,136 this year, an increase of three percent. On average, Indians planned to increase their annual travel spend by 15 percent from US$3,264 in 2013 to US$3,746 in 2014, though this was still behind the average global travel budget.

• The proportion of travellers planning to travel more increased across almost all markets. This year, 90 percent of global travellersplanned to travel domestically (up from 87 percent in 2013) and 77 percent planned to travel internationally, up 12 percent compared to 2013 (65%).
• The study also revealed that ninety-five percent of Indian travellers planned to travel domestically (down 1% compared to 2013) while 66 percent planned to travel abroad, up 21 percent compared to last year.

The increase in travel budgets and travel plans was mirrored by business confidence - 70 percent of global hoteliers said they were optimistic about their profitability in 2014 (up from 67% in 2013). Similarly, four in five (83%) Indian hoteliers said they were optimistic about their profitability in2014 (down from 89% in 2013). Over half (55%) of Indian hoteliers also planned to increase room rates with 51% saying this was due to increased overheads.

Economic Conditions

Despite relatively low optimism in the economy (only 11 percent of global respondents and 14 percent of Indian respondents reported spending more on travel because they felt more confident about the economy), travellers were not willing to give up their holidays, with many opting to hunt for bargains and make sacrifices in other areas of their lives in order to protect their travel spend.

Currency fluctuation was thetop mostreason to affect travel plans of Indian travellers, with 63 percent indicating that it would impact their holiday plans, compared to 44 percent globally. Despite this, those affected still planned to travel. Of those travellers who said currency fluctuation would impact them, 53 percent global respondents and 44 percent Indian respondents researched more to find the best price.

Connected on the Go

91 percent of global travellerssaid they were attached to their mobiles; India and China led the pack with 98 percent of travellers from each country saying they used their smartphones on holiday. Two in five (41%) Indians used their smartphone to find things to do, and over one-third (35%) to search for hotels.

• The global travellers’ pervasive use of mobile phones is reflected in TripAdvisor’s mobile app downloads. So far, 150 million people have downloaded the TripAdvisor family of mobile apps, growing at triple digit rate.
• TripAdvisor’s mobile audience globally grew to nearly 50% of total traffic (Q3 2014) with Asia witnessing triple digit year-on-year growth in mobile audience across a number of markets.
• TripAdvisor introduced‘Instant Booking’ in the US, a feature available through the TripAdvisor mobile app and website that allows travellers to quickly and easily make a hotel reservation through the hotel or online travel agency (OTA) partner whilst conveniently remaining on the TripAdvisor app.  Instant booking is a huge focus for our company and though it is currently available to US travellers across all platforms (mobile, tablet and desktop), we expect to roll out to more markets in 2015.

On the business side, three in four (76%) global hoteliers and eight in ten (81%) Indian hoteliers already had a mobile offering for travellers. Out of those who did not offer mobile services, 50 percent of global hoteliers and 64 percent of Indian hoteliers planned to introduce it in 2014. Almost half (47%) of Indian hoteliers allowed guests to book rooms via their website on a mobile device, and 32 percent had a mobile friendly website.

Outbound Indians

As per the 2014 India Outbound Travel Trends Report:

ü  Dubai emerged #1 destination for Indians in 2014 as well as 2013

ü  United States of America emerged the favourite country for Indians in 2014

ü  China was the #1 Emerging Country for 2014

ü  Almost 50% of Indians preferred rooms in the price bracket of up to Rs 5000

ü  Almost 30% of Indians preferreed other accommodation options such as B&B, vacation

Rentals etc. rather than hotels

ü  ‘Outdoors’ was the top choice in ‘Attractions’ category for outbound Indians

ü  Ambergris Caye, Belize was the #1 Emerging Destination for 2014 followed by Lankanfushi, Maldives at #2

ü  Indian food remained the favourite cuisine for ‘away from home’ Indians

InboundMarkets

With traveller interest growing by 48 percent year-on-year, Singapore led the pack when it came to increased interest from travellers looking at Indian properties, representing an increasingly important source of business for Indian accommodations.

Emerging markets like Ukraine and China also showed signs of promise as new inbound markets for India with traveller interest increasing by 43 percent and 33 percent, year-on-year, respectively.

2015 – TRENDS FORECAST

Tapping the Mobile Opportunity

The shift toward mobile channels is a global phenomenon, representing unprecedented opportunities for businesses looking to capture travellers at every stage of the travel journey.

The mobile opportunity in India also is the most significant one, both for the commerce and personalization possibilities the device brings to travel planning and booking. Other opportunities will lie in Indian travel companies leveraging online and mobile to provide previously unavailable levels of engagement, touch points and service right through the various phases of the travel booking, experience and post travel cycle.

• Online and mobile bookings for attractions and activities represent a huge opportunity as well.

Dream Destinations

Looking ahead at the next 12 months, Europe tops the list of places global travellers plan to visit (46%), followed by Asia (39%) and North America (32%). At 33 percent, New Zealand is the ‘dream’ overseas destination for Indians to visit in the next 12 to 24 months, closely followed by France (32%) and Switzerland (31%). Australia and Italy top the list of destinations global travellers would choose to visit if money were no object.

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