HYDERABAD: Hyderabad ranks fourth among Indian cities with most of the travellers seeking international vacations. As far as Hyderabad-based travelis concerned, travellers in the 25-35 years age group are embracing travel planning as a Do-It-Yourself (DIY) venture. They want to go beyond cliched tour packages and create an exclusive itinerary for themselves. Besides Indonesia, Thailand, Australia and New Zealand, the other sought-after destinations among Hyderabad-based travellers are the Maldives, Singapore and Dubai. These were some of the insights revealed by Pickyourtrail, a Do-It-Yourself platform for customised, travel itinerary planning firm revealed based on its data of 2019.
“The data also revealed that the majority of customised bookings from Hyderabad — of young couples and honeymooners opted for Indonesia (especially Bali) and Thailand followed by Australia and New Zealand. Based on the average days taken to make a booking and the average days between booking and travelling, jet-setting millennials are planning their vacations around three months prior to their departure dates.
Destinations like New Zealand, Central Europe and Bali are planned well ahead, while destinations like Thailand, Mauritius and Maldives are comparatively booked closer to departure. The average time taken to make the bookings after finalising the destination is around three weeks,” says Hari Ganapathi, co-founder PickYourTrail. Sought-after experience are all-inclusive villa stays, historical getaways, cruises and national parks. Majority of jet-setting millennials travelling with Pickyourtrail are from Tier 1 cities (Chennai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Hyderabad), he adds.
When it comes to long haul destinations like Europe and Australia, travellers tend to be more price-conscious and give importance to functional aspects instead of luxury experiences. Centrally located 3-star hotels with 150 - 200 sq ft guest rooms. without breakfast are preferred to save costs and also give more opportunities for exploration of the local culture, lifestyle and cuisines. Lowxury is the word.
“This generation is a tech savvy one which relies on apps to enhance their travel experience. When it comes to activities, they prefer to explore the destination on their own, with facilitation of entrance tickets and skip-the-line passes to tourist attractions.
A lot of our travellers have used Pickyourtrail Smart Travel App services like live concierge, in-built guide, weather forecasts, currency calculator, and other such features to enhance their experience and ensure their travel is hassle-free, with the aid of technology,” Hari remarks.