Indian travellers prefer flat discounts over packaged deals: Skyscanner

MUMBAI: Most Indian travellers prefer flat discounts when it comes to travel bookings, said a survey carried out by a travel search engine.
The survey which studied the booking habits and preferences of Indian travellers, said that 54% of its respondents opted for flat discounts, 38% said they seek flexibility of cancellation and rescheduling of their flights, while 37% said they hunt for packaged deals and offers.
"With over 116 million internet enabled smartphones, more and more Indian travellers are moving away from traditional methods of booking to a more evolved eco-system where they complete their transaction after browsing through all the available deals and discounts available. With the advancements in technology and increase of mobile and smartphone adoption, travellers now have the flexibility to plan a trip according to their budget – all at the convenience of their fingertips," said a release issued by Skyscanner, which carried out the survey. It also revealed that while 45% of Indians prefer to make their travel booking on PCs, increasingly more travellers are booking through apps via their mobile and tablet devices (27%), followed by mobile web (13%). "The same trend was reflected in our data as the number of sessions recorded on mobile devices (smartphones and tablets) were 56%, followed by desktops at 44%[2]," the release said.
With credit card penetration at 21 million3, the survey also witnessed a changing trend among Indian travellers when it comes to payment methods. According to the survey, credit cards (49%) and debit cards (32%) are the most preferred modes of payment by travellers. 31% of Indian travellers prefer completing their transaction through Internet banking, while a small percentage (5%) of respondents favour PayPal as a mode of payment. On the other hand, the survey highlighted the barriers which hinder Indians from completing their transaction on their mobile device, with 38% of Indian travellers believe there are accompanying security issues, and 33% of respondents find it inconvenient.