Indian Luxury Travel Segment: Self –Drive Experiences Popular

Self drive experiences are popular in the Indian luxury travel market and many operators offer such products primarily for Europe and New Zealand. This comprises travelling in high-end cars like Ferrari, Audi, Mercedes and Rolls Royce where the travel operator provides mapped out routes. Customisation is to the level of providing concierge services to deliver the clients’ luggage, suggesting stay at high-end boutique hotels, reservations at Michelin star restaurants and offering vineyard visits and other sight seeing experiences en route. Spa holidays, adventure sports, high-end shopping trips, culinary tours, wine trails and cruise tourism are rapidly gaining acceptance in the market. Popular and upcoming destinations for luxury travel include: Monaco, Namibia, Mauritius, Seychelles, Caribbean Islands, Greece, Cyprus, East Africa, New Zealand, Canada, Vietnam and Cambodia. Luxury travellers in India consist primarily of FITs, families, honeymooners and young professionals. The luxury travel segment in India is growing rapidly at about 10-12 per cent annually.

Pre Trip Approvals – Top Business Travel Guideline

Deloitte’s 2010 Business Traveler Survey reveals the top travel guidelines at companies for business travel were pre trip approvals (50%),per diem amounts for daily expenses(48%), book accommodations in advance(42%), purchase air tickets in advance(42%), dollar limit for accommodations(32%), dollar limit on client dinners, entertainment (31%), first or business class seat restrictions on domestic flights (29%).

The top 6 ways the respondents monitored travel expenses in 2010 were:

37% cut back, overall, on travel expenses

33% stayed away for fewer days

32% spent less on food, restaurants

24% spent less on air travel

24% scheduled conference calls, video conferencing instead of traveling

21% stayed at less expensive hotels than before

Korean Travelers: Top Duty Free Spenders

According to The Visa Travel Smart Survey, Korean travellers spent the most on duty free items on their last trip with an average expenditure of US$358.

Top Duty Free Spenders

Korea - US$ 358

China - US$ 333

Hong Kong - US$ 224

Malaysia - US$ 195

India - US$ 180

Thailand - US$ 178

Japan - US$ 164

Australia - US$ 153

Singapore - US$ 153

New Zealand - US$ 134

Taiwan - US$ 125

Regional Average - US$ 21

Travelers from Japan (73 percent), Korea (71 percent) and China (49 percent) were the region’s most frequent duty free shoppers. For duty free purchases credit cards were most popular with Australians and New Zealanders (59 percent respectively), followed by Koreans (56 percent). The other findings were : leisure travelers did most of their duty free shopping at the airport (84 percent) while business travelers preferred downtown duty free shops (67 percent);young travelers(18 – 29 year olds) were the most likely to stretch their travel budget with duty free purchases.

US Corporate Travel Budget: 5% Rise Expected; Sellers Market Taking Over

The National Business Travel Association (NBTA), in its 2010 Industry Pulse: Business Travel Buyers’ Sentiment stated the average corporate travel budget was up 5.5% in 2010 compared to 2009 and expects it to expand an additional 4.45% in 2011 to USD 98 million. NBTA surveyed 170 North American corporate travel buyers and found that more travellers (38%) are taking more trips (51%) this year. Increasing outbound international business travel and higher costs are also large driving forces behind the increase in total travel spend. With the exception of domestic car rentals, travel buyers expect domestic prices to rise between 3% and 4.5% in 2011. Travel companies, including airlines, are wielding more negotiation power making corporate discounts harder to come by.

	2009 USD	Estimated 2010 Change	Projected 2011 Change
Domestic Airfare	$442.00	4.17%	4.48%
International Coach Airfare	$1,137.00	3.21%	3.81%
International Business Class Airfare	$4,084.00	3.24%	3.93%
Domestic Hotels	$160.00	-0.52%	2.98%
International Hotels	$322.00	1.10%	2.84%
Domestic Car Rentals	$48.17	0.23%	0.74%

The international share of U.S. business travel spend in 2009 was 28 percent; this share is expected to increase. Outbound international spend per company is estimated to increase by 13 percent in 2010 to $28.2 million. Travel buyers expect their international business travel spend to further increase by 11.4 percent to $31.42 million in 2011.

Agent, Tour Operator Influence To Resurge In 2011

Agents and tour operators will see a resurgence of influence in the future, predicts Cox & Kings, the longest-established travel company in the world. Waning influence of Internet due to information overload and specialized and specific requests by the traveler has caused resurgence in working with tour operators and travel agents.

Other travel trends predicted for 2011 are:

Multi-destination vacations: visiting two countries in one trip is more convenient than ever, affording travelers the opportunity to experience what they want from a combination of countries.

Learning experiences: Demand has increased for specialized learning experiences. People want to come away with a strong emotional connection with a destination and bring back more a skill they can actually use from a vacation.

Luxury trains: There will be renewed interest in rail travel that will increase throughout 2011. Rail travel is an easy and comfortable way to maximize travel time, allowing travelers to see a large number of sites without having to pack up and fly or drive between these locations.

Experiential family travel: The face of the family vacation is changing and they are extending far beyond a week-long island refuge. The demand for hands-on experiences that focus on learning and doing as opposed to just seeing will increase in 2011.

Women Travelers Turn to Social Media

According to a survey commissioned by ‘Women on their Way’, nearly half of women surveyed access social media while traveling.

Key findings from the survey include:

- Almost half (46 percent) of women use social media during their trip and half access it through their smartphones

-Of those respondents who use social media during their trip, the majority (81 percent) are on a leisure vacation. Three in every four women are on family visits and a quarter is on girlfriend getaways.

- More than half of those under the age of 35 are using social media while on their trip, almost two-thirds share photos or videos and 46 percent update their status or provide commentary.

- Almost two-in-five women provide status updates or commentary during their trip on Facebook and well over half (57 percent) share photos or videos.

Premier Inn, Travelodge Dominate UK Branded Budget Hotel Market

According to TRI Hospitality Consulting, top two budget hotel brands have more than two-thirds of the UK branded budget hotel market: Premier Inn (38%) and Travelodge (25%). Since 1993, the number of branded budget hotel rooms in the UK has grown more than tenfold, increasing from 10,555 rooms to 109,528 rooms at the end of 2009.

UK's Leading Branded Budget Hotel Operators

Brand	Number of Hotels	Number of rooms
Premier Inn	582	41,511
Travelodge	377	27,010
Holiday Inn Express	109	12,464
Ibis	53	7,173
Jurys Inn	23	5,828
Innkeeper's Lodge	91	2,652
Etap	17	2,212
Ramada Encore	16	1,947
Days Inn	30	1,834
Days Hotel	12	1,562

Source: Budget Hotels 2010 UK