Mumbai : Holidays are a time for relaxation, rejuvenation and self indulgence.  Besides knowing what to pick up for ourselves, we also make it a point to bring back something for our friends and family members.  While one would think that holiday gifts are cherished and looked upon as a thoughtful gesture, a survey by leading global travel search site Skyscanner has proved otherwise.  Out of the 1000 Indian travellers surveyed, 20% have admitted to passing on unwanted holiday gifts to someone else with 16% travellers revealing that they have given it away to charity.

Though 40% of the travellers surveyed admitted to never receiving an unwanted holiday gift, of those who did 16% of women have said it was cheap jewellery with 10% of men admitting that food and fake DVDs topped their list of holiday gift disappointments. When quizzed as to what they did with these unwanted holiday gifts, 46% of the younger generation (18-24 year olds) kept the unwanted holiday gifts in either a cupboard or drawer to avoid embarrassing moments whilst avoiding extreme measures of binning the gifts. The survey also found that travellers in the older age brackets were predisposed to giving the holiday gifts away to charity with 20% of the travellers in the 45-54 age group and 18% of the 55+ age group being generous in this regard.

The results of skyscanner’s survey goes on to further reveal that it is not just the receiver who regrets the wasted efforts of items purchased overseas. 30% of Indian travellers ranked their boss as the person they were least likely to pickup gifts for while on holiday followed closely by their office colleagues.  Family and friends came next in line with 18% and 14% of the travellers admitting to being less enthusiastic about picking up gifts for them. Along with weight issues that come with carting unnecessary gifts for people back home, are the monetary regrets.  27% of the travellers surveyed said that they have spent between INR 5000 – 10,000 on the purchase of holiday gifts with 24% of the travellers admitting to having dished out anywhere between INR

2,000 – 5,000 on gifts for others. What is interesting to note is that only 5% of the travellers admitted to spending less than INR 500 on holiday gifts.

Kavitha Gnanamurthy, Skyscanner’s Market Development Manager for India, said, “Most people utilize the last few days of their holiday in painstakingly choosing gifts for loved ones back home.  The reality though is that holiday gifts more often than not, don’t meet their objective of bringing excitement or pleasure to the intended recipient.  In fact Indian travellers tend to be quite lavish when it comes to spending on holiday gifts for others.  However, after having gone through our survey they might want to reconsider opening up their purse strings so as to avoid having regrets later on.”

Source : Rohini Saldanha