Travel queries grew by 53% during February-April 2017: Google

Mumbai: With the ongoing summer break, Google India on Wednesday revealed that the overall travel related queries went up by 53 percent during February-April, compared to the same period last year.

Overall travel related queries including planning, transport, accommodation, vacation packages and travel documentation witnessed a 53 percent year-on-year growth (February-April), Google Search Trends revealed in a survey.

The surge in vacation queries began in February, indicating that more number of Indians are now planning for summer holidays earlier in the year, it added.

The travel search trends is based on searches conducted by Indians between the months of February to April this year.

With increasingly affordable travel and stay options, interest in holiday travel is consistently growing beyond the metros as there was 70 percent growth in travel queries from non-metro cities over the past year, it said.

Google search data also showed that 40.80 percent of all travel related queries were emerging from cities and towns beyond Delhi National Capital Region (NCR), Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Pune, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Ahmedabad.

The growing use of mobile devices has made it more flexible for travellers to research, plan their itinerary and choose their favourite destination from any where and at any time, it said.

The survey also revealed that this year there was a growing interest in 'Alternate Stays', which surged by 111 percent from last year.

Further, 'destination activities' also witnessed 102 percent growth, it added.

Within India, while Goa continued to be the most preferred destination, hill stations like Manali, Shimla in Himachal Pradesh and Ooty in Tamil Nadu also made it to the top 10 destinations list, it said.

This summer, Andaman and Nicobar Islands saw a boom in popularity with 39.8 percent growth, said the survey.

It said, among international destinations, the US continued to be the most preferred followed by UAE and Thailand.

Interestingly, the survey found that, among the countries that have witnessed high growth are Nepal (64.8 percent), Indonesia (42.1 percent) and Bhutan (40.8 percent).

In terms of mode of travel, rail services emerged as the most searched witnessing a 56 percent growth, it said.

The quantum of search queries for rail services was nearly twice as high as the combined searches for all other modes of travel including air, bus, taxi, and car rentals, the survey said.