There has been a 14 per cent drop in international travel in 2012, compared to same period last year. Travellers have also cut back on the average vacation time, according to an annual ‘ India Travel Trends Survey for 2013’ conducted by the travel site TripAdvisor.
Despite an optimistic disposition on their holiday plans at the beginning of 2012 and being upbeat about their holiday calendar even mid-year, people have actually cut back on vacation time in 2012, the survey said.
However, travellers are bullish about their holiday plans for 2013. “Rising airfares, high hotel room costs and persistent inflation appear to be the main issues daunting holiday goers this year and travellers have expressed their concern about these trends continuing in the coming year. However, for now holiday intent for 2013 looks promising, with 41 per cent leisure vacationers looking at travelling more compared to this year,” the survey said.
Nearly 60 per cent of the respondents made some kind of change to their travel plans of which 17 per cent cancelled a domestic trip and 16 per cent reduced the duration of their trip.
Close to 11 per cent of people cancelled a foreign holiday, 10 per cent traded an international destination for a domestic holiday while 21 per cent changed their destination.
Travellers also cited not getting leaves from work and holidays clashing with official or personal commitments as other reasons for fewer holidays this year, the survey conducted among 3,200 online respondents said.
Outlook for 2013
According to the survey, nearly 80 per cent travellers indicated that they will take same or more holidays in 2013 compared to this year. However, a significant number of travellers said that they would plan to take more frequent holidays of shorter duration next year.
While Goa, Munnar, Manali, Ooty, Darjeeling, Jaipur and Ladakh, among others, featured among the top 10 domestic destinations, Singapore, Dubai, London, Bangkok, Paria and Bali figured among the top 10 international destinations.