India’s online hotel market will grow to $4 billion in 2020 with a CAGR of 25 per cent according to a report by Google India and Boston Consulting Group (BCG).
As per the report, Indian travel market is projected to grow at 11-11.5% to $48 billion by 2020 with the biggest contributor, air travel expected to grow at 15% to $30 billion. Hotels will grow at 13% to $13 billion by 2020 while railways will remain largely stagnant at $5 billion.
Speaking about the key findings of the report, Vikas Agnihotri, Industry Director, Google India said, “One of the key findings of the report is that by 2020, one in three hotel rooms will be booked online – a clear indicator of the growing importance of digital in travel research, planning and booking. There are several actionable insights for domestic online travel players including the role of mobile and the level of curation and personalization that Indian travellers are looking for.”
Demystifying the travel planning journey of the typical Indian consumer, the report shows that for a majority of Indian consumers a vacation is a well thought through event, the planning for which starts several weeks in advance. On average, travel consumers spend 49 minutes spread over 46 days, visiting as many as 17 different online touch points to plan, research and make a booking. However, it is interesting to note that the length of each online session is less than 3 minutes, due to the ubiquity of mobile.
Talking about the opportunities for the online travel players, Abheek Singhi, Senior Partner and Asia Pacific Head of Consumer Practice, BCG said, “Technology has led to democratization of travel through better information and price discovery – and shall lead to 11-11.5% growth in years ahead. The question is “ how to address the 17 different touchpoints of three minutes each over 49 days!”
“The imperative for players is to use technology and advanced analytics capability to understand individual micro journeys and offer personalized and curated travel solutions,” added Singhi.
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