S Indian travellers are good tippers

Travellers from Bangalore and other South Indian cities spend, behave and plan differently from their country cousins in the North, West and East.

 For proof, check this unique Expedia survey designed to prepare a holiday spending index, which says: South Indians are least excited about spending money on a vacation, and least likely to save in advance for a holiday unlike 91 per cent of North Indians!

Here’s more: Forty-six per cent of West Indians tend to set aside a dedicated vacation fund. But only 36 per cent from South India do so. However, the study found a pan-Indian trend irrespective of the region: Over half of the Indian respondents from all regions have not taken a vacation due to cost in the past five years. A third of them could not afford a vacation in the past two years. 

Travel irritants 

So what irritates the South Indian travellers most? Quality of resorts and hotels. But North Indians have a long list of complaint areas: baggage and booking fee, need to shell out tips and that irritating need to spend on travel protection insurances and out-of-country medical insurance. 

For South-Indians, tipping different service people is often part of the travel ball game. A high 67 per cent of them surveyed say they tip food servers, 50 per cent had tipped hotel maids and 61 per cent the room service delivery boys. They also tend to tip drivers / tour guides (52 per cent) and airline porters (23 per cent). Only 12 per cent fall under the rare category of zero-tipping!

Beach vacations, cheapest

Budget does impact the style and choice of a vacation. On a fixed budget, 32 per cent of Indian travellers surveyed globally find “Beach vacation” to be the most cost effective at 32 per cent. Twenty-three per cent of them perceive vacations centred around historic / cultural sight-seeing as the next most cost-efficient. “Ski-vacations” are perceived as least cost effective at two per cent.

On an unlimited budget, 33 per cent of the Indian travellers find “Cruises” to be the most luxurious, followed by beach vacations (19 per cent), casino vacations (11 per cent) and health spa / spiritual retreat (9 per cent). 

However, only 16 per cent of South Indian travellers perceive beach vacation as a luxurious one.

Heading out for a week-long domestic vacation, 79 per cent of the Indian travellers expect to spend up to USD 500 per person.

This is inclusive of transportation, accommodation, food and beverage. However, the study found that South Indians are likely to spend only upto USD 415, the least among all regions.