TripAdvisor has launched its annual travel round-up for 2014 and trends forecast for the coming year. Summing up the year Nikhil Ganju, country manager, TripAdvisor India said, “Travel sentiment rebounded in a fairly robust manner in 2014 with Indian travellers indicating an upping in their travel spends by 15 per cent, despite the fact that only 14 per cent of them felt more confident about the economy. What’s most exciting is the huge opportunity that mobile booking represents with a significant portion of travellers both globally and in India already using their smartphones to find things to do and search for hotels whilst they are travelling. It is only a matter of time before mobile bookings overtake bookings through other devices, as is happening in the wider e-commerce space.”

Highlights of 2014:

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 per cent. On average, Indians planned to increase their annual travel spend by 15 per cent 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 per cent of global travellers planned to travel domestically (up from 87 per cent in 2013) and 77 per cent planned to travel internationally, up 12 per cent compared to 2013 (65 per cent). The study also revealed that 95 per cent of Indian travellers planned to travel domestically (down one per cent compared to 2013) while 66 per cent planned to travel abroad, up 21 per cent compared to last year.

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

Economic Conditions

Despite relatively low optimism in the economy (only 11 per cent of global respondents and 14 per cent 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 the top most reason to affect travel plans of Indian travellers, with 63 per cent indicating that it would impact their holiday plans, compared to 44 per cent globally. Despite this, those affected still planned to travel. Of those travellers who said currency fluctuation would impact them, 53 per cent global respondents and 44 per cent Indian respondents researched more to find the best price.

Connected on the Go

About 91 per cent of global travellers said they were attached to their mobiles; India and China led the pack with 98 per cent of travellers from each country saying they used their smartphones on holiday. Two in five (41 per cent) Indians used their smartphone to find things to do, and over one-third (35 per cent) 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 per cent of total traffic (Q3 2014) with Asia witnessing triple digit year-on-year growth in mobile audience across a number of markets.

On the business side, three in four (76 per cent) global hoteliers and eight in 10 (81 per cent) Indian hoteliers already had a mobile offering for travellers. Out of those who did not offer mobile services, 50 per cent of global hoteliers and 64 per cent of Indian hoteliers planned to introduce it in 2014. Almost half (47 per cent) of Indian hoteliers allowed guests to book rooms via their website on a mobile device, and 32 per cent had a mobile friendly website.

Outbound Indians

As per the 2014 India Outbound Travel Trends Report:

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

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

– China was the #1 Emerging Country for 2014

– Almost 50 per cent of Indians preferred rooms in the price bracket of up to INR5000

– Almost 30 per cent of Indians preferred other accommodation options such as B&B, vacation Rentals etc. rather than hotels

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

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

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

Inbound Markets

With traveller interest growing by 48 per cent 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 per cent and 33 per cent, year-on-year, respectively.

Trends forecast for 2015:

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 personalisation 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.

Dream Destinations

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