However, the risks also come as a drag for travel enthusiasts just before the year-end holiday season. How does he disrupt the plans? A survey of Indian consumers by polling firm YouGov found that Indian consumers have been increasingly inclined to travel in recent months, but are also paying attention to safety and health concerns. Here is more:

1. Excitement, disturbed

By October, the gradual decline of the pandemic in India had helped consumers be more prepared to consider traveling again, the latest data from YouGov Global Travel Profiles suggests. About 58% of Indian consumers surveyed planned to take domestic travel for business or leisure, up from 55% in October 2020.

This is also reflected in the data of national airlines. Indian national carriers carried 9 million passengers in October, the highest number since February 2020, the last full month before India announced a lockdown. However, that should take a hit with the Omicron variant forcing further restrictions.

Demand for international travel has also seen an increase, from 24% of consumers who planned it in October 2020 to 28% in October 2021, according to YouGov data. The increased appetite appears to have started from February and peaked in August. YouGov Global Travel Profiles tracks global consumer attitudes towards travel in 25 key markets on a daily basis.

2. Personal vacation

Getting together with friends and family was the number one reason Indian travelers were ready to take vacations, according to the October survey. Up to 32% of those surveyed said it was the most common type of vacation, a stark reminder of the sense of nostalgia that blockages may have created in people.

A quarter of consumers preferred a vacation in the mountains, in the countryside or on the beach. One in five (19%) said they liked vacations to experience culture and history, while a good portion (15%) also liked going on vacations coupled with activities such as walking, hiking and hiking. bike.

Security remains a major concern. One-third of urban respondents chose safer stay options with basic services guaranteed, such as standard hotels. Up to 29% would also prefer to stay with friends and family when traveling.

Far fewer respondents chose accommodation such as youth hostels, rented apartments or rooms, campsites or cruise ships.

3. Call of Goa

If the trips opened in a planned way, where would the Indians go? Goa emerged as the top favorite destination on the YouGov Destination Index, with 37% expressing their wish to visit the state for their next domestic trip. Next come Himachal Pradesh (33%) and Uttarakhand (29%). Smaller populations have already helped each of these three tourist states fully immunize more than half of their residents.

Maharashtra and Kerala, which have historically been the epidemic’s biggest hot spots, each got votes of 27% of those polled, as did Delhi and Karnataka.

In the international travel industry, Singapore tops the list of preferred destinations for the next trip (45%), followed by the United States and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Many Indian travelers are also inclined to visit destinations close to their home country: around a third or more of those surveyed said they wanted to visit the Maldives and Bali in Indonesia.

4. Airline buzz

Airlines have been among the sectors hardest hit by the pandemic. As restrictions on air travel have eased, they have slowly started to make a comeback, but now face a harsh winter.

We get information on travelers’ airline preferences from YouGov’s BrandIndex, a daily brand health tracker, based on ‘buzz scores’ that assess whether consumers have heard something positive. or negative about a brand in the news, advertisements, or chatting with friends and family. The buzz score for low-cost carrier IndiGo has increased the most over the past year, from 21.0 in October 2020 to 25.9 in October of this year.

In debt, Air India, which recently made the news following the success of the Tata group’s takeover bid, grew by 4.7 points and remained the airline with the highest score.

GoAir, which launches its initial public offering this week, saw the smallest increase in buzz score among the six major airlines tracked.

5. Safety first

Finally, a look at the biggest obstacles to travel plans. In October, safety and health risks became the main barriers to travel, with the two factors each obtaining 38% of the votes of consumers surveyed on the factors preventing them from traveling.

Travel restrictions were the third most important barrier (29%), followed by the cost of travel (27%). Almost a quarter of consumers also said work prevented them from planning trips. A similar number reported an unfavorable health situation in the family.

The traveler perception toll shows Indians were largely keen to travel by October as long as they felt safe amid the coronavirus pandemic. Detection of infections in Omicron in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Karnataka and Delhi could force travelers to once again prioritize safety over vacations. Perceptions will likely have been affected when the next data set arrives.

YouGov India is the Indian arm of the global market research firm YouGov.