Indian travellers are increasingly turning to smart phones to not only research vacation destinations but also book airlines and hotels, says a study conducted by Google Ipsos.
According to the study Multi-screen Travellers , 87 per cent users said they used mobile phones to research a vacation trip, while 66 per cent said they had also used their phones to book trip elements, such as flight tickets, hotel rooms and railway tickets.
Nearly 36 per cent users said they booked a flight on a mobile, while 25 per cent said they had booked a hotel room. The study surveyed over 1,500 leisure travellers in the country, of which nearly 60 per cent said that research done on their mobile phones influenced their booking decisions.
The study also found that ‘new age’ travellers used multiple screens to research or book travel. Three out of four users said they used desktops as well as mobile phones for travel research, booking, experiencing and sharing. Nearly 97 per cent respondents said their travel was influenced by an online source and was the trigger for holiday planning.
Vikas Agnihotri, Director-Travel and BFSI, Google India, said, “One-third of travel-related search queries on Google India are now coming from mobile and tablet devices…The study established that today’s hyper connected, hyper informed smartphone user is consuming online content across devices. ”