Overseas Leisure Tourism from India Set to Rise

Indians do not holiday abroad as much as people from some other parts of the world, according to a recent study. There is a huge potential in India in the leisure outbound category, it added.

The report, titled “The inflection point for India outbound travel,” released on Feb. 1 by the aviation think tank, Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA), in association with online travel company Expedia group, revealed that by 2025, 13.9 million leisure departures can be expected, leading to 19.4 million Indian visitor arrivals overseas, with a major contribution coming from tier two and three cities.

In 2016, the total number of departures for all purposes, including business, leisure, education, visiting friends and relatives (VFR) and others, by Indian nationals was 21.9 million, according to the Ministry of Tourism. These travelers spent $16.4 billion in 2016. Business travel accounted for 26 per cent of outbound trips, while visiting friends and relatives, employment, education, pilgrimage and others accounted for the balance 44 per cent, the report said.

“India has a huge latent market for leisure travel owing to the burgeoning middle class, rising disposable incomes, higher need and awareness around travel being pushed by millennials,” Simon Fiquet, Expedia’s general manager, Southeast Asia and India, said in a statement.

India currently contributes to only 4.8 million leisure outbound trips, that make only 30 per cent of the total departures from India. The global average outbound leisure share is 53 per cent.

Fiquet added that measures like introduction of more non-stop connecting flights and simplifying the visa registration processes are a few key steps that can encourage the outbound leisure market to reach its true potential in India.

The largest overall outbound markets from India are the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United states and Thailand, the report said. Dubai, Thailand, France, Singapore and Malaysia account for over 50 per cent of Indian leisure arrivals overseas. The traffic to the United States is mainly for purposes of business, with only 18 per cent visitors travelling for leisure.

“Amongst the 10 leading leisure destinations, India was the largest source market for Dubai and Sri Lanka, and 4th for Singapore,” the survey added.

Indians spend about $857 per trip per person when going on an average short-haul outbound leisure holiday, and about $1,687 per trip per person for a long-haul trip.

“Our research indicates that there is significant and rapidly rising interest in overseas holidays from India. There will be large numbers of first time travelers entering the international holiday market every year,” Binit Somaia, director, South Asia, CAPA, said.

Somaia added that India comprises multiple and varied markets and there is a need for airlines, tourism boards and travel companies to invest much more in understanding the Indian travel landscape.

The survey added that Indian millennials are more adventurous and confident and more inclined towards travel, as opposed to saving. They also prefer independent travel over group tours. About 45 per cent of Indians in the age bracket of 18 to 25 years went on their first international trip either with friends or by themselves.

A survey conducted by Expedia in December last year said that India is the fifth most vacation-deprived country globally. A large number of Indians are unable to take time off for a holiday due to heavy work schedule.

India’s top travel trends recorded in a Google India report from September to November last year showed that both international and domestic luxury searches increased by 34 per cent and the online hunts for “royal holidays” spiked 12 times as compared to the same period in 2016.