INDIAN BIZ TRAVELLERS AMONG TOP SPENDERS IN ASIA-PACIFIC

The survey interviewed over 2,500 respondents from nine countries in the Asia-Pacific region, who made business trips in the first half of the year. “Only Singaporeans spend more, averaging US$468. In terms of nightly spend on accommodation, Indians rank third at US$133, up from US$128 last year. Australians and Singaporeans took the top spots, at US$173 and US$156, respectively, with Mainland Chinese (US$98) and Indonesian (US$81) travellers spending the least,” Evan Lewis, Vice-President Communications, Asia Pacific – Accor, said while interacting with the media in New Delhi.

Compared to fellow travellers in the region, Indian business travellers are most likely to be entrepreneurs, with 17 per cent of respondents saying they own their own business. Moreover, Indian travellers were also the most likely to take business trips to visit customers, with 58 per cent of respondents citing this as a reason for travel. While business travellers from India are more likely than elsewhere to be in control of their own fortunes they are not likely to be women.

Interestingly, business travellers from India are the most likely in the region to book directly on the hotel’s website – with 69 per cent of respondents saying they usually make reservations via the hotel’s online booking channel and a further 19 per cent saying they use online travel agents. Moreover, Indian executives are also the most likely to post about their hotel experiences – positive or negative – on social media.

In line with region-wide trends, Indian business travellers took 86 per cent more trips in the first half of the year, with the average Indian executive taking 13 trips between January and June versus seven trips over the same period last year. For the second half of the year, this trend is expected to continue, with Indian business travellers planning the same number of trips they took in the first half.