Some 14 percent of Indian travellers paid an average of 22 percent more on flight tickets by booking less than a week before travel to the most sought-after destinations in 2017, as revealed by KAYAK (KAYAK.co.in), the global travel search engine.
New analysis by KAYAK also shows that Indian travellers risk paying up to 33 percent more than the average cost for flights to their top destinations in 2018 by waiting until the last minute to book.
Flights for Bangkok, Dubai, and Bali, the top three destinations for Indian travellers on KAYAK, cost on average 18 percent, 22 percent and 33 percent more, respectively, in the final week before travel. In fact, last-minute bookings for each of the top ten most-searched destinations incurred travellers at least 10 percent higher costs, with Singapore at 13 percent representing the smallest increase on average flight costs during the last week.
"With disposable incomes rising, there are more and more Indian travellers venturing overseas on holiday. In 2017, we have seen a significant percentage of Indian travellers making last minute bookings at higher than average flight prices. In order to save on flights, planning ahead is a simple way for travellers to save money so they can put it to use in their final destination, rather than on an airplane ticket," said country manager India of KAYAK, Abhijit Mishra.
Amongst the most-searched destinations by Indian travellers in 2018 are:
-Bangkok
-Dubai
-Bali
-Singapore
-New York
-Goa
KAYAK also reveals that there has been a decline in average flight prices for top destinations, year-on-year, owing to falling jet fuel prices and operational costs.
"We at KAYAK have developed tools such as Price Alert and Price Forecast in order to help Indian travellers monitor flight prices and decide whether to 'book now' or 'wait' for a better price. With these travel tools, we hope to help our users plan their trips confidently and avoid costly last-minute price hikes," added Mishra.
KAYAK provides a one-stop seamless travel experience, from planning all the way through to itinerary management. As well as Price Alert and Price Forecast, travellers may also make use of KAYAK's Trips feature, an all in one travel organiser that helps them to manage their itinerary, collecting reservations and booking information and displaying it in an easy to read format no matter where each booking was made.
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)