The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has brought about a paradigm shift in people’s approach towards travel as a recent survey has found that most Indians want to wait for a vaccine to be found against COVID-19 before they make travel plans after the lockdown is lifted.
Further, while weekend getaways and road trips can still be considered, international trips are out of the question in the coming months with many now preferring to opt for hotels with a high rating instead of homestays.
While fear of crowds emerged as the biggest concern among travellers, most would now prefer a high rating hotel instead of an Airbnb-kind of accomodation.
“Indian travellers have turned deeply cautious about their travel plans due to the Covid‐19 pandemic. Close to 50% say that they will not consider travelling till a vaccine is made available,” stated a report by travel gear startup Bragpacker.
“... international trips especially seem to be strongly out of consideration right now with over 75% of Indian travellers saying they will not consider going for an international holiday after lockdown is lifted,” added the report that is based on responses of over 1,000 people spread across seven metros.
However, a majority of those respondents also added that they would consider travelling within the country, especially for weekends getaways and for road trips once the ground situation improves.
“The key finding of the Bragpacker.com Traveller Sentiment Survey is that travel industry is going local. Domestic destinations and domestic tourists will drive the Indian travel industry for the foreseeable future,” said Manan Shah, founder, Bragpacker.
“The first trip most people will likely take post lockdown will be a short weekend getaway with friends or family to destinations within drivable distance from their homes,” he added.
Incidentally, over 60% of the respondents said that they would plan weekend getaways in 2020 once the lockdown is lifted with another 22% being unsure but not averse to such trips.
Further, 56% respondents were positive about road/bike trips post the lockdown.
The main concern expressed by a majority of respondents was the fear of crowds with 57% staying that their main concern about travelling is crowds they will encounter in transit and at the destinations.
Another 17% said they are most afraid of the disruptions due to quarantines, cancellations etc if they travel. Getting leave from work was also a big concern among many respondens.
In terms of travel expenses, a high share of 70% respondents said that their travel budgets will shrink due to the pandemic.
