India's digital travel sales to reach $22.52bn in 2017
With the rise of a digital economy, digital travel sales in India are set to touch the $22.52bn mark in 2017, according to eMarketer.
India's digital travel sales to touch 22.52bn mark in 2017
Post-demonetisation Indians have taken to transacting by digital payments, which affected India's ecommerce sector adversely. Digital travel sales in India will continue to grow and by 2021 are expected to reach $39.09 billion, according to the data.
Jaimie Chung, forecasting analyst said that there is great opportunity in India for mobile-focused companies to benefit from the shift towards cashless transaction.
He pointed out, "Ctrip, a major player in the Chinese OTA market, presciently bought a 26% stake in Indian OTA MakeMyTrip in early 2016.”
According to eMarketer, APAC is the most established online travel region in the world. This year digital travel sales in APAC will reach $214.07 billion, growing 22.5% year on year.
China continues to lead the pack with digital travel sales expected to exceed $113.0 billion this year in APAC.
India and Indonesia are leading the rate of growth, however, with each market growing by by 33.0% and 17.7% respectively.
According to the data, 2017 marks the first year that Asia Pacific overtook North America as the biggest digital travel spender, accounting for 35% of all digital travel sales.
The Drum spoke with Ramya Nagesh, director - planning at The Glitch who said, "This is really no surprise. Consumers in the past were using digital to research their travel, identify their itinerary and what their options are. From there, they have moved to complete the entire booking experience online. "
"With service providers like Yatra and MakeMyTrip offering the assurance of a great experience, best deals and no-charge cancellation, it has made consumers sit up and realise the value of booking through them," she further added.