Half of Indian travelers book their trip last minute

As per a recent study conducted by Ixigo,half the Indians book their trips very close to travel dates. While booking hotels and flight tickets well in advance is economical, most Indians tend to plan their travels closer to the intended travel dates, with almost half planning their travel at the last minute. This is evident from the data analysed by ixigo from over 2 lakh users on its platform. The sample size involved an equal representation of men and women between the ages of 18 and 65, from across India.-Ixigo said in a circulated press release.

According to the data from ixigo, over 48% of domestic and 43% of international travelers book hotels within 30 days of intended travel. In contrast, only 1 in 6 domestic and less than 1 in 4 international travelers booked hotels 4 or more months in advance. Similarly, travelers tend to book flight tickets closer to the date of travel, with as many as a third of domestic travelers booking them in the same month in which they intend to fly out. This figure is as high as 50% for international travel. The most popular cities domestic travelers flew to are New Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Pune. International travelers flew to Dubai, Kuala Lumpur, Muscat, London and Paris.

Ever increasing cancellation charges could be another factor discouraging people from booking too early. Still more than half the travelers believe in booking early.

Commenting on this trend, ixigo CEO & Co-Founder, Aloke Bajpai said - “There is an increasing trend of last minute bookings and holiday planning amongst travelers especially for flights and hotels. This is due to the flexibility to book anytime anywhere that travelers enjoy due to advanced technology, uninterrupted connectivity and easy access updates that keeps them informed about fare prediction, offers and online reviews. Higher purchasing power in travelers, complimentary services and enticing offers across the travel industry are enabling travelers to make smarter and price conscious decisions which only signals a robust growth in the tourism industry across the coming quarters.”

Prices do not always go up closer to travel date- if demand is poor, rates do drop. So booking several months in advance-particularly for hotel is usually not needed. For flights you can decide based on the savings and certainty of travel- if there's a sale with ultra low fares, may be gamble is worth, else might as well weight closer to travel date.

So what is your booking style? Months in advance or last minute?