THE NEW INDIAN TRAVELER – GREAT POTENTIAL FOR THE MEKONG REGION

A foreign holiday has now become non-negotiable for Indian consumers

The Indian outbound market has been on an upswing. Even in 2013, when there were reports of a downturn due to the depreciation of the rupee against the US dollar, India’s outbound tourism recorded a steady performance with 9% growth with 14 million international departures.

A recent report by Skift and the Travel & Tourism Intelligence Center provides great insights into the potential of India as an emerging source market.

Indians made over 18 million outbound trips in 2014, which is 2 million trips more than in 2013. At the moment, barely 2% of India’s population travel abroad, as most Indians still cannot afford overseas flight prices. However, the country’s middle class has increased by more than 10% over the past five years and is set to grow from around 300 million at present to approximately 600 million by 2030. Jens Thraenhart, Executive Director of the Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office (MTCO) says, “The rapid growth of the Indian middle class is turning this demographic into a major source market, and especially the new Indian travelers provide great potential for the Mekong region due to its authenticity, close proximity, food offerings, and religious heritage.” India has been added as a new emerging source market to the new Mekong Tourism Marketing Plan 2015-2020 by the Tourism Working Group of the six Greater Mekong Subregion member countries.

As the globe’s second most populous country, India has experienced tremendous economic upheavals in recent years. In this flat and outsourced world we live in, this ageless and ethnically diverse democratic nation of 1.2 billion people now has a sizable tech and telecommunications sector on top of its strong agricultural and manufacturing export industries.

India’s robust economic growth and rising household incomes is projected to take consumer spending to a level of US$ 3.6 trillion by 2020. Food, housing, consumer durables, transport, communication and international travel have garnered the most of consumer spending.

Countries such as Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam and other Southeast Asian nations have been extremely popular in 2013 as Indian outbound destinations.

Thailand remains hot spot for Indian leisure tourism

Indian travelers characteristically have been avid business travelers, with 40% of all 2014 departures accounting for business trips. As a comparison, China only recorded a share of 21% for business travel. One of the key destinations for Indian leisure tourism is Thailand, with over one million traveling there in 2014, an increase of 8.3% on the previous year. This growth can be attributed to cheap tourism packages and limited visa entry requirements. Geographical proximity and low currency conversion rates also contributed. Moreover, the excessive heat in most parts of India during the summer means that Thailand appeals as a cheap yet close destination.

The interests of traveling Indians are more or less the same as those people from everywhere in the world. Shopping, sightseeing, museums, history, nightlife, amusement parks and ecotourism lead the pure leisure motivations, while visiting family and business remain as the top two overall. But more and more globetrotting Indians are turning experimental, looking to customise trips, opting for offbeat destinations and newer experiences.

Based on several market studies, shows that despite a relatively slower economic growth and foreign exchange volatility, over 15 million Indian travellers are planning foreign trip. Interestingly, Dubai and Singapore still keeps the top positions as the most popular destinations for Indians.

With over 50% of all phones sold in India being smart phones, it’s no wonder that 33% of all travel related queries come from mobile. Indian business travellers have quickly adapted to mobile bookings, and 39% of them are making travel arrangements including reservations through a mobile device.

The increase in disposable income along with a stable economy, easy access to credit and exposure to media have influenced Middle Class India’s mindset and choices. Indians are now more aspirational and confident – exploring new destinations and spending more on vacations. The infographic notes that 38% of Indians plan to utilize spare cash on holidays and vacations. The out bound travellers are high spenders with average spending per trip crossing $1700.

The report shows 51% searches done online are rated to travel. Indians clearly begins their travel planning through a search engine with 70% destination selection being done through online search. Hotels tops the list, with 54% of all travel related searches are on accommodation.

India has the third largest Facebook users. Social media has become the norm with 40% travellers consulting friends through social media on travel. Most four and five star hotels in main cities have realized the huge opportunity social media offers, and have made an active presence.

Here are some newer breeds of Indian Travellers:

• Evolving Family

The family traveller is changing today. At one end of the spectrum we are seeing multi-generation families taking over whole floors in hotels whereas at the other end of the scale, the growth of the single person household is driving the need for stimulating independent travel.

• Laptop and Latte Workers

A new breed of business traveller. Often young, the typical 9-5 working environment and business centre atmosphere is alien to them. They prefer creative coffeehouse-style environments where they can be inspired by meeting other travellers while they work on their laptops and smart phones.

• Expansive Mid-lifers

The growing numbers of adventurous over–50 travellers have emerged as the fastest growing and most affluent age group for the first time. These middle-aged travellers seek new experiences yet demand services that respect their needs without labelling them as old.

• The Invisible Traveller

Describes a guest who could potentially ravel without touching the sides, and may never interact with hotel staff. From planning to booking, check-in at the airport to check-in at the hotel, room service and even concierge services, some travellers are already opting for an entirely independent travel experience.

• Hyper-personalised Travellers

These are evolved travellers who need personalised and customised service. From service staff who can speak multiple languages to chefs who can provide vegan meals at short notice, we need to learn to cater to this growing niche, demanding but also have the money to spend.
Experts see two categories of Indian travellers growing — at the top end and the bottom end — as incomes rise.

There is also a new student mobility report that confirmed the number of Indian students going overseas was up sharply in 2014. This reverses a four-year trend of declining student numbers from India and, given the current scale and growth projections for Indian outbound, sets up in an interesting competitive dynamic among the world’s leading English-speaking destinations.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand has made a conscious effort to target 1.05 million travellers from India to the Kingdom this year and the Vietnam International Administration of Tourism has turned to Bollywood to market to the growing number of outbound tourists from India to its tourism destinations.

Leveraging on the potential of Mekong’s pivotal role in India’s Look East Policy for Tourism Promotion, the time is now for you to put India on the top of your new tourism market list. The only alternative is sitting out and missing out on the tremendous opportunity being presented in the Indian sub-continent and watching nimbler companies that may be your competitors become leaders in this source market.

Through our collaboration between MTCO with Fairfest Media Ltd (www.fairfest.com), we can help you gain access to a large proportion of these travellers via some 150,000 qualified who attend the most popular travel trade fairs and subscribe to the top ranking print and electronic news magazine owned by Fairest.

MTCO and Fairfest is collaborating to help travel organizations to participate at OTM in Mumbay from February 18-20, 2016 by organizing a Mekong Tourism Pavilion to give small and medium sized companies the change to engage with the Indian travel trade in an affordable way and produce seminars for Indian travel agents and tour operators on how to sell the Mekong.

For more information, please contact Ms. Sheila Leong at email sheila@eonevents.asia (or sheilaleongassociates@gmail.com) and mobile number +66 81 8150461.