According to findings of the Thomas Cook (India) Ltd?s online Survey, ?Through the Crystal Ball?, 70 per cent of young Indians will travel on a holiday irrespective of the economy/currency. The Survey identifies emerging trends, opportunities and needs of the emerging Indian traveller via email, web and social media to reach out to this ?digital natives? generation. The Survey results were presented at Thomas Cook India?s recent event, ?Disha 2013?, organised by its educational arm Thomas Cook – Centre of Learning (CoL) to present to the young students, the realities that they, as next generation travel professionals would have to deal with.
Young Indian travellers want an option to connect with their travel service providers, online as well as offline with 66 per cent travellers preferring a flexible mix of online and offline touch-points, the Survey revealed. Forty three per cent of young travellers make at least one international trip annually and 66 per cent said that they would take two short-haul trips in a year instead of one long-haul trip annually. Sixty two per cent of the young travellers affirmed that they are open to spend up to 15 per cent of their annual income on travel.
Over 3,800 respondents were surveyed through ?Through the Crystal Ball?, administered via Thomas Cook?s social media platforms ? primarily Facebook and Twitter, and Thomas Cook?s email database of young independent customers. Respondents, from both metros and non-metros who participated were encouraged to share and refer and received gratification via online travel coupons, redeemable on the company?s portal.
Madhavan Menon, Managing Director, Thomas Cook (India) Ltd said, ?We, at Thomas Cook India, have a long history of innovation spanning over 170 years – as creators of the first package holiday, the first hotel voucher, travellers cheques, etc., and so we believe innovation is in our DNA! Research ? especially forward looking such as this, serves like lighthouses ? illuminating the path ahead of our continuous journey of offering new and innovative products, services and destinations to satisfy the ever evolving needs and aspirations of a young, impatient and digitally native Indian traveller.?