MAM
Booking.com unveils how Indian travellers plan their trips
Mumbai – Everyone plans their holidays differently. While some Indian travellers prioritise securing the perfect flight deal first, others crave the comfort of booking their accommodation before planning the rest of their travel itinerary.
Booking.com’s Travel Trends for 2024 unveils interesting insights into the mindset and behaviour of Indian travellers when they plan their trips. While 61 per cent of travellers book flights and 37 per cent book event tickets well in advance, car rentals, restaurant reservations and even taxis are either booked along with the accommodation or left until closer to the trip date.
Planning for Takeoff: Flights Lead the Way: More than half (61 per cent) of Indian travellers book their flights before securing accommodation while planning their holiday.
The All-in-One Approach: Around a quarter of Indian travellers prefer booking multiple aspects of their trip at the same time and are looking to book flights, accommodation, attractions, car rentals, restaurant reservations and even taxis simultaneously on a platform offering seamless travel experience.
Foodies Rejoice: While making decisions about the choice of accommodation, Indian travellers emphasise culinary convenience. 40 per cent of travellers are willing to pay extra for that delicious breakfast spread and 54% crave unique food experiences like food tours and cooking classes.
Last-Minute Decisions on the Ground: Nearly a third (13 per cent to 33 per cent) of Indian travellers wait until after booking their stays and just before their trips, to arrange car rentals, restaurant reservations and taxis. They are looking for flexible and spontaneous experiences during their travels. This likely allows them to discover hidden gems and local delights once they are settled into their destination, adding an element of surprise and discovery to their itinerary.
Train Travel: Planning is Key: More than half (58 per cent) of Indian travellers book train tickets before securing accommodation to ensure a smooth journey and avoid the stress of last-minute scrambling for seats.
Event Enthusiasts Plan Early: Similar to flights, 37 per cent of travellers prioritise booking event tickets before their accommodation. Whether it is a music concert or a sporting event, securing event tickets ensures these experiences become a highlight of the trip.
Booking.com country manager for India, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Indonesia Santosh Kumar commented, “Booking.com Travel Trends provides valuable insight into the travel planning behaviour of Indian travellers. By understanding these preferences, the travel industry can tailor their offerings to cater to different planning styles and preferences – and at the right time across the traveller journey. Whether it’s the meticulous planner or adventurous improvisers, Booking.com is committed to making it easier for everyone to experience the world.”
How Indians are booking various aspects of their travel
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Abhay Duggal joins JioStar as director of Hindi GEC ad sales
The streaming giant brings in a seasoned revenue hand as the battle for Hindi television advertising heats up
MUMBAI: Abhay Duggal has a new desk, and JioStar has a new weapon. The media and entertainment veteran has joined JioStar as director of entertainment ad sales for Hindi general entertainment channels, adding 17 years of hard-won revenue experience to one of India’s most powerful broadcasting operations.
Duggal is no stranger to big portfolios or bruising markets. Before joining JioStar, he spent a brief stint at Republic World as deputy general manager and north regional head for ad sales. Before that, he put in three years at Enterr10 Television, where he ran the north region for Dangal TV and Dangal 2, two of India’s leading free-to-air Hindi channels. The north alone accounted for more than 50 per cent of total channel revenue on his watch, a number that tends to get attention in any sales meeting.
His longest stint was at Zee Entertainment Enterprises, where he spent over six years rising to associate director of sales. There he commanded the Hindi movies cluster across seven channels, owned more than half of north India’s revenue across flagship properties including Zee TV and &TV, and closed marquee sponsorships across the Indian Premier League, Zee Rishtey Awards and Dance India Dance. He also handled monetisation for the English movies and entertainment cluster and the global news channel WION, a portfolio that would stretch most sales teams twice his size.
Earlier in his career Duggal closed what was then a Rs 3 crore single deal at Reliance Broadcast Network, one of the largest in Indian radio at the time, before that he helped launch and monetise JAINHITS, India’s first HITS-based cable and satellite platform.
His edge, by his own account, lies in marrying data and instinct: translating audience trends, inventory signals and client demands into long-term partnerships built on cost-per-rating-point discipline rather than short-term deal chasing. In a media landscape being reshaped by streaming, fragmented attention and AI-driven advertising, that kind of rigour is increasingly rare and increasingly valuable.
JioStar, which blends the scale of Reliance’s Jio platform with the content firepower of Star, is doubling down on its advertising business at precisely the moment the Hindi GEC market is getting more competitive. Bringing in someone who has spent nearly two decades doing exactly this, across some of India’s most watched channels, is a pointed statement of intent. Duggal has spent his career turning audiences into revenue. JioStar is clearly betting he can do it again, and bigger.
