Mumbai : Active Holiday Company, India’s first and only company exclusively focused on international adventure, today released the survey findings on Indian Adventure Travellers from their inaugural report titled ‘Outbound Adventurism Tourism from India – A Market Report’. The research study was conducted along with The Outdoor Journal. The Adventure Travel segment is slotted by ATTA (Adventure Travel and Tourism Association) as the fastest growing travel segment in the world, pegged at US$263 billion.

Europe (and UK) topped as the most visited Adventure Travel region. Though as independent countries Thailand, followed by USA and then Malaysia are the most popular with Indian adventure travellers. Though such surveys are regularly conducted by ATTA and UNWTO to understand and track the progress of this segment, this was the first ever survey conducted by the company to understand the behavioral, psychographic and demographic profile of Indians taking adventure trips internationally. Through October and November, a representative sample of 552 International travellers across metros and Tier 2 cities took an exhaustive online survey, giving insights into this segment.

Gauri Jayaram, Founder of Active Holiday Company Said, “India outbound travel is extremely important, yet there is little research available on niche touring styles that will make up a huge chunk of travellers in the future. Being an authentic experiential style, Adventure Travel is important for any country as it connects travellers with grass roots helping economic progress at the local community level and this survey is an attempt to bridge the gap for countries, their tourism boards, tour operators and Indian travel agents who want to invest in developing this segment.”

Key findings of the survey:

·         The survey showed that as many as 58.62% Indians have taken an adventure holiday in the past 2 years and Indians are spending an average of Rs.8900 per night excluding flights and visas on such trips

·         Some of the key activities that Indians are engaging in are trekking, wildlife safaris, outdoor photography, cycling and rafting

·         Thailand, followed by USA and then Malaysia are the most popular destinations for these activities. As a region, Europe is more popular than the Far East, though travel is very fragmented to destinations like UK, Spain, France, Germany etc.

·         The average duration of the International adventure trips taken by Indians is 8.65 days.

·         Although 62.25% reported prior Adventure Travel experience in India, only 28.1% invested in special equipment for their trips

·         Not surprisingly, online research is the most popular pre-research tool and word of mouth is trusted over social media

The survey also defined the scope of ‘Adventure Travel’ as per International norms where in the inclusion of the activity for a significant duration determined whether the trip was an adventure trip or not and as such activities like hot-air ballooning, bungee jumping etc. are disregarded as part of Adventure Travel as they are only activities incidental to travel itineraries but not the core purpose of travel.

“Compared to their international travellers, the survey showed that unlike their western counterparts, the gender ratio of Indian adventurers was heavily skewed towards men with almost two thirds being men. Also contrary to the assumption that most of such travellers are single, 71.5% of travellers taking such trips are married whereas internationally they are usually an equal mix of single and married people. The per day spends of Indians are also lower by almost half of what their counterparts spend of International trips and also on what Indians are typically spending on an average on international tours in Europe. That however is the real opportunity that Adventure Travel presents for Indians. The very nature of no-frills, basic style adventure trips makes it affordable for Indian travelers to realize their International travel dreams while combining it with unique different experiences making the travel more meaningful to them”  concluded Gauri Jayaram