Booking.com’s Insights on Catering to The New Indian Traveler

In this episode of the Skift India Travel Podcast, Booking.com’s Country Manager for India, Sri Lanka, Maldives, and Indonesia, Santosh Kumar, and Skift Asia Editor, Peden Doma Bhutia, dive into the latest trends, insights, and initiatives in the travel industry. They focus on inclusivity and the evolving behaviors of Indian travelers.

Key Points

Inclusivity and LGBTQ+ Travel: Kumar and Bhutia discuss the Travel Proud Research, which highlights challenges faced by LGBTQ+ travelers. Kumar emphasizes the need for more inclusive travel experiences in India, noting the stark contrast between the discrimination faced by LGBTQ+ travelers in India compared to global averages.

Indian Travel Trends: The travel trends research indicates a normalization of travel post-Covid with some evolved behaviors. Indian travelers show a high propensity to travel for events like weddings and music festivals. There is an increasing trend of combining business with leisure trips among Indian travelers. Group travel, especially with family, remains popular among Indians.

Alternative Accommodations: There is a notable surge in demand for alternative accommodations due to group travel. Booking.com is enhancing its support for alternative accommodation partners with tools like homeowner insurance and request-to-book features.

Sports Tourism: Indians show a growing interest in traveling for international sporting events. Booking.com sees significant increases in searches for destinations hosting major events like the Paris Olympics.

Travel Planning and Personalization: Indian travelers are strategic yet last-minute bookers, influenced heavily by social media. Loyalty programs provide instant rewards and benefits, encouraging higher engagement and repeat bookings, while enhancing customer retention and satisfaction.

Connected Trip Strategy: Booking.com’s Connected Trip strategy aims to offer a seamless booking experience for flights, accommodations, car rentals, and attractions. This strategy is particularly relevant in a fragmented market like India.

Episode Summary

The episode discusses significant developments in the travel industry. One highlight was Booking.com’s Travel Proud Research, which underscores the heightened awareness and acceptance among LGBTQ+ families regarding travel influenced by their identity. The study revealed an increase in LGBTQ+ families embracing multi-generational trips, with India showing stark challenges: 92% of Indian LGBTQ+ travelers experienced discrimination, significantly higher than the global 59%. Additionally, 72% of Indian respondents felt insecure and self-conscious while traveling, compared to 51% globally.

Kumar emphasized commitment to inclusivity through initiatives such as the Travel Proud program, which trains partners worldwide to better understand LGBTQ+ travelers’ challenges. Despite these efforts, he noted that Indian travel stakeholders’ participation in such training remains limited.

The discussion also centered on the evolving travel behaviors of Indian travelers post-Covid. Indian travelers show a high inclination towards event-specific travel, extending business trips for leisure, and preferring group travel with family and friends. This trend has spurred a surge in demand for alternative accommodations.

Regarding the Paris Olympics, Booking.com observed a 30% year-on-year increase in searches for flights to Paris, with India ranking among the top five Asian countries showing interest. Kumar highlighted efforts to ensure ample supply and competitive pricing during such high-demand periods.

Kumar also discussed the strategic planning of Indian travelers, influenced heavily by social media and seeking value through direct booking channels.

Finally, Kumar elaborated on Booking.com’s Connected Trip strategy, which integrates flights, accommodations, car rentals, and attractions into a seamless booking experience. This approach is particularly relevant for India, where travel remains fragmented. Booking.com’s focus on enhancing user experience and reducing friction aims to attract new customers and benefit accommodation partners through increased bookings.