iXiGO.com had done an online travel survey which provides insights into online travel consumer behavior in India. We don’t quite agree with the methodology but still thought the survey had some interesting results to be showcased here:
- 65% of respondents checking 3 or more travel sites, before making a booking
- 18% of respondents checking 5 or more travel sites before completing a transaction.
- “Price” and “Good Deals” rated most often as the most important parameters in choosing a website for booking flights
- 61% of respondents booking “where the best deals are”
- 23% preferring to book on airline official sites
- 16% sticking to booking on OTA sites.
- 35% of the respondents now book their hotels online.
- “Price”, “Hotel Location” and “Hotel Brand” have emerged as the three most important parameters while booking hotels
A Note On Survey Methodology:
The survey was conducted by INSEAD MBAs on behalf of iXiGO.com from August 2009 to February 2010, with responses from over 2,500 Indian online travelers. These users were from iXiGO.com and from social media networks including LinkedIn, Facebook & Twitter. As you can see the above userbase is quite evolved and is bound to know about more travel sites and the fact that there is hardly a difference between them. Normal or less advanced users are likely to stick to one OTA more out habit than anything else. This is our view. Nonetheless the survey does bring out insights on how evolved users use travel sites and their approach to travel booking.
