Thought Indians looked for ‘cheap’ destinations while travelling abroad? That it was low ticket rates and budget hotels that were the deciding factors while selecting a place to holiday at? Think again!

A new survey of international travellers from across 12 countries (including India) has thrown up surprising new findings. While selecting a place for a leisure trip, the predominant reason for a number of travellers revolved around a one-off event or experience, the survey found.

“One-off events have become the more frequent factor than flight or accommodation deals in driving consumers to decide where to go for their holidays,” concluded the study by Klook, a global travel activities and services booking platform. The survey was done last month among people who had travelled abroad in the past one year from across 12 countries, including the US and UK, besides India.

As much as 52 per cent of Indians surveyed said they planned their vacation around seasonal activities or one-off events and then booked flights and hotels accordingly to round out the itinerary.

The trend wasn’t unique to India alone. More than half of the international travellers from Singapore and Malaysia, and a whopping 63 per cent from Thailand; said they planned a vacation around a specific event or a time-sensitive activity.

Some of the popular events included watching Sakura blooms in Japan (spring), music festivals in the US (summer) and Oktoberfest in Germany (last month). More active tourists have been opting for experiences like trying to catch the northern lights in Finland or the vivid autumn foliage in places like South Korea. For fans of Halloween (which is tomorrow night), there is the Halloween horror nights theme park experience at Universal Studios in Singapore.

Content Courtesy: theweek.in