Google has released a Google Travel Trends Report which states that branded budget hotel search queries grew 179% year over year (YOY) in India, in comparison to 36% growth in generic budget hotel queries YOY on the basis of international search queries from January to September 2015. Overall queries for accommodations grew at 37% YOY.
In its press statement, Vikas Agnihotri, Director Sales, Google India, said, “.. We expect this (travel) segment to continue to see massive growth with leisure travel expected to pick up in the coming summer holiday season.” Budget hotel queries accounted for 35% of total accommodation queries, and 47% for brands providing budget hotel inventory online.
All numbers are for January to September 2015, unless stated otherwise.
Top 10 searched destination packages traffic:
Delhi-NCR, Chandigarh, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Chennai.
Top destinations searched for accommodation in March to June 2015:
Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Goa, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala and Delhi-NCR. Currently, out of the top 50 domestic destinations searched, only 30% of destinations represent leisure travel.
International travel, stay and holiday queries:
– 25% of search queries for international air tickets, growing at 43% YOY
– 18% of search queries for international accommodation, growing at 25% YOY
– 22% of search queries for international holidays growing, at 30% YOY
Top 10 most searched for international destinations, of which the first three are growing at 35% YOY: UAE, United States, Thailand, United Kingdom, Singapore, France, Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia and Italy.
Top 50 searched international destinations include:
– Seychelles – growing at 112% YOY
– Hungary – growing at 88% YOY
– Czech Republic – growing at 75% YOY
– Russia – growing at 65% YOY
– Greece – growing at 57% YOY
– Norway – growing at 57% YOY
– Vietnam – growing at 56% YOY
– Sri Lanka – growing at 53% YOY
– Saudi Arabia – growing at 53% YOY
– Austria – growing at 51% YOY
Most searched for holiday destinations in March – June 2015 include: Thailand, United States, UAE, Singapore, Maldives, United Kingdom, Mauritius and Malaysia.
Other numbers:
– Honeymoon and romantic packages fastest growing for holiday bookings, growing 42% YOY
– Vacation packages growing at 35% YOY
– Adventure packages is a small category, growing at 22% YOY
