Indian millennials are increasingly travelling the world and showing a keen interest in exploring various destinations across the globe. Scoot, the low-cost arm of Singapore Airlines (SIA) Group, has identified that about 60 pc of its travellers from India this year are millennials – a demographic known to prize unique experiences, make multiple trips a year, and therefore embrace budget travel.
Based on its booking data, Scoot has identified some statistics on budget travel patterns of Indian millennials. Solo trips continue to be the most popular mode of travel for Indian millennials, be it for leisure or work. They make up about 65 pc of bookings this year and last year, and Australia (aside from Singapore) is the top choice for solitary wanderers, with Melbourne and Sydney topping the charts.
True to their tech-savvy nature, nearly 60 pc of Indian millennials make their flight bookings online, through either online travel consolidators, the website or mobile apps. In fact, Scoot is seeing growth in bookings made directly on the Scoot website by the Indian millennials. This might reflect a growing preference by travellers to personalise their travel experience through the full range of ancillary options available, and the advantages of managing their bookings directly with the airline. For example, travellers can conveniently accumulate and redeem KrisFlyer miles (the loyalty programme of the Singapore Airlines Group) on Scoot flights directly through their Scoot Insider account on the Scoot website. With the removal of payment processing fees for bookings made on all Scoot direct channels globally from September 2019, the number of direct bookings is expected to continue to grow.
Last year, more than 70 pc of Indian millennials chose to travel light, eschewing pre-purchase of checked baggage and using the complimentary carry-on allowance, of which Scoot offers 10 kg. This year, Scoot noted 5 pc more millennials choosing to pre-select checked baggage when booking their flights, perhaps reflecting a preference to spend a little more for peace of mind during their travels.
About a quarter of Indian millennial travellers are making trips beyond Singapore, and onwards to various destinations on the Scoot network. Options include nearly 70 cities in Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, and more. The top five cities that Indian millennials are travelling to on Scoot are Singapore, Bali, Melbourne, Clark and Sydney. In India, Scoot operates from seven cities – Amritsar, Chennai, Coimbatore, Hyderabad, Tiruchirappalli, Trivandrum and Vishakhapatnam.
