BANGALORE October 11th, 2012 – Wego India (wego.co.in), one of the country’s leading online travel sites, today announced that 2012 has seen some significant changes to the travel patterns of Indians. Based on an analysis of the millions of flight and hotel searches conducted on the popular price comparison site so far this year, there is an obvious trend away from international destinations in favour of holidays at home and to destinations far beyond the more popular domestic tourism gateways.
Eight in every ten hotel searches are now for domestic accommodation, up from half at this time in 2011 and it is stimulating fresh demand for a much wider range of travel experiences.
Jackson Fernandez, General Manager for Wego India explained,
“While the state capitals continue to be the most frequently searched, we are now seeing two-thirds of Wego users type in second tier cities and towns looking for hotel deals. The exchange rate may well be a factor in the figures, but we are delighted with this boost to the hospitality industry here.”
In the process Indians have discovered accommodation options at 400 more domestic destinations, while searching for the best room within budget online.
“We are moving much more into the long tail of travel, with the less commercialised becoming more popular,”
Fernandez added.
There are fast movers like cool Saputara, the only hill station in Gujarat. It now accounts for one in every hundred hotel searches, given the acccess to the wild life sanctuary in the Mahal Bardipara forest and Gira Waterfalls and the hot hotel rates with Wego partner, Stayzilla. Similar in search volumes is the rare evergreen hill station in the Western Ghats that used to be the summer capital of Bombay, Mahabaleshwar. It’s seeing renewed interest with Cleartrip representing Wego users’ favourite property there.
Many travellers are, however, going for much more remote locations, with far fewer hotels – often only accessible by road and rail. Some are chosen for spiritual refreshment: holy towns and mandals like Srisailam situated in the Nallamala Hills, Andhra Pradesh and Shirdi in Maharashtra seeing a peak in visits online now. But, then there is Matheran without vehicle access at all. It seems ironic to use the very latest technology to search for hotels at a destination that is likened to ‘stepping back in time’. Wego users, mostly from Mumbai in this case, want the best backpacker places there from which to explore on foot.
In Uttarakhand sits Lansdowne, the quiet hill station 1700 metres above sea level and prone to snow in winter. It’s another example, attracting a staggering one in every 200 searches on wego.co.in right now, particularly from Delhiites six hours away and there are only 11 hotels there. But, it’s cooler and calmer and on a clear day it is possible to view the peaks of the Himalayas.
Wego has looked for an explanation for these hotel-only bookings and the answer perhaps lies in the regional distribution of its users. Often the most diverse and obscure searches are from the nearby city dwellers. Maharashtra is home to the largest community on Wego. Those living in Mumbai and Pune are avoiding the airfares and enjoying the wonderful tourist attractions within the state, whenever they can. It’s a very affordable way to get a break from the city. Helping in rural areas, the Marathi language option has made the travel comparison site more accessible to speakers who are now taking virtual trips to nearby towns and cities. Indians are ‘going local’ like this across the country, saving time and money finding accommodation online and using all 11 Wego language options in the process.
Fernandez believes it to be a lasting trend, driven by the pressures of modern living and encouraged with India’s growing appreciation of its own tourist assets.
“Now the festival season has begun we will see a different mix of searches again as people get out to enjoy the sights and celebrate. We have some great hotel deals close to the action.”
There’s plenty of choice too. Wego currently compares the room rates for over 20,000 hotels and resorts across India, of 350,000 properties worldwide.
For those not familiar with Wego, the site presents its users with an unbiased and channel neutral view of travel prices, with a choice of booking direct with a hotel or airline, or via an online travel agent like Expedia, Goibibo, Cleartrip and Makemytrip or hotel aggregator like Booking.com, Agoda or specialist Stayzilla. Users choose the best deal from amongst the multiple options and click through to book direct. The savings in time and money can be significant.
For more information, click: www.wego.co.in/
For more information, contact:
Caroline Bye
Press Office
Wego Pte Limited
Email: [email protected]
Tel: +65 6438 8242
About Wego
Wego.com is APAC and MENA’s leading travel metasearch engine, operating in over 50 markets worldwide and used by millions of travellers to save time, pay less and travel more. The company provides powerful yet simple to use tools that help travellers research trips, compare prices and book travel online. Wego shows users an unbiased and channel neutral view of travel prices, providing users with a choice of booking direct with a hotel or airline, or via an OTA or aggregator site. In Q2-2012 Wego referred in excess of $10 million per day of potential bookings to the websites of it’s travel partners. Wego.com was founded in 2005 by former executives of Yahoo!, InterContinental Hotels Group, Priceline and ZUJI. Shareholders include Tiger Global Management, News Digital Media and OWW Capital Partners. For more information, please visit https://www.wego.com/about/