Long-haul flights gaining preference amongst Indians: Survey
A number of Indian travelers are exploring far-off places, thanks to improved flight connectivity and better prices over a period of time, a survey said. According to KAYAK, a travel search-engine, searches for long-haul destinations like Toronto (Canada) and Perth (Australia) have seen the greatest rise. Traveling to far off destinations is no longer difficult now and long-haul flights are gaining preference amongst Indians.
Some places have seen 95% year-on-year increase in flight searches
Toronto and Perth have seen the greatest rise, with a 95% and 92% year-on-year increase in flight searches, respectively. Other destinations like Boston (US), Paris, San Francisco and Melbourne have also seen an annual increase of a minimum of 21%. Another reason for the growing preference for long-haul flights could be the fact that they are decently priced compared to a few-years-ago, report said.
The average trip-duration of Indians has also seen a jump
There is not just an increase in the preference for long-haul flights, but even the average trip duration that Indians are going on vacations for has seen a jump. None of the long haul destinations has an average trip duration of less than a week, with the average shortest being a fortnight, and the maximum being as long as a month, KAYAK Director said.
Time period when searches were conducted on KAYAK platform
Searches were conducted on KAYAK platform between January 2017 and May 2018 for the travel period of January till May 2018 compared to data from search period between January 2016 to May 2017 for the travel period of January-May 2017.