Hotel Price Index (HPI) 2016 by Hotels.com has revealed that the currency demonetization by the government hasn’t had any “significant impact” on Indian travelers travel plans in the year 2016. As per the report, five of the top ten countries for outbound travel for Indians were long-haul destinations like the USA, the UK, Germany, France and Italy.
Spends on accommodation per night in the USA remained unchanged in
comparison to 2015 (approximately Rs.10, 800/-). In five of the 10 top
destinations (UK, UAE, Singapore, France and Italy), travelers paid
comparatively less in 2016 as compared to 2015 – underlining that
demonetization did little to dampen wanderlust in India.
While UK maybe exiting the EU, Indians seemed to be flocking to the country as UK claimed the third most popular country spot with Indians shelling approximately Rs 12, 000/- per room per night. USA, Germany, France and Italy were the other long-haul destinations to feature in top 10.
The top 10 popular outbound cities for Indian travelers was dominated by Asia-Pacific cities and saw little change since 2015. However, the top 50 and top 100 lists revealed the many new destinations that were becoming increasingly popular.
The HPI data revealed evolving Indian travel habits, with a growing preference for destinations such as Kathmandu, Budapest and Macau that made surprise entries into top 50 most popular outbound destinations, clocking in at positions 37, 38 and 50 respectively.
Moscow (Russia) saw a jump of 25 ranks to 45th position, Hanoi (Vietnam) saw a jump of 25 ranks to land at the 56th position, Lisbon (Portugal) saw a jump of 22 ranks to 82nd position.
In the domestic and inbound travel, with New Delhi and Mumbai emerging to be the top two most popular destinations in comparison to India’s perennial tourist magnet – Goa which came in at number 3 in the domestic bracket but was shockingly surpassed by Bengaluru in the inbound bucket and relegated to fourth spot. |