siliconindia | | November 201819This adventurous audience is either seek-ing thrill from their trips with 48 percent stat-ing that they embarked on their previous hol-iday to bring more excitement in their lives. They then engage in exciting activities like mountain climbing, trekking, sky diving, river rafting and many more and share the photo-graphs of their experiences, in turn leaving their social media followers pining to seek the same. Apart from increased bookings in sponta-neous weekend getaways, millennials & solo travellers tend to extend their trips, which are culturally immersive. This has led them to keep an average of 35 days in their holiday bank for travel per year. All this is further assisted with more disposable incomes than previous generations and delayed marriages childbirth. Flying SoloThe report also revealed that 37 percent of millennial travellers are intent on travelling solo. This shouldn't be miscon-ceived as solely travelling alone. There is an increased attraction in travelling in groups as it provides the liberation to explore alone, as well as a safety net of sorts provided by the group of like-minded travellers. There has been an increase in customized packages for solo travellers, including cruises, treks, and museum tours creating exploration opportuni-ties to cater to different groups.According to an Abta Holiday Habits survey, one in nine holiday makers reported that they took a holiday on their own in the previous year, which is double the number compared to the previous six years. Moreover, according to the inspiration sharing site Pin-terest, searches for solo travellers has gone-up a significant notch to reach 600 percent this year. Airbnb has also seen an increase in solitaire bookings with their fastest growing spots in Cancun, Mexico (170 percent); Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam (146 percent); Cologne, Germany (142 percent); Playa del Carmen, Mexico (141 percent); and Johannesburg, South Africa (135 percent).Moreover, the social & economic empow-erment of women have fulfilled their urge to travel alone, a trend that is only evolving with each passing day. Google trends ob-served that 10 million women searched sites for solo travel last year along with a 350 per-cent increase in Pinterest searches. Indian women are rightfully accepting the concept of solo travel with numerous industry reports revealing that more than 35 percent of them have opted to travel alone. A chunk of these are from Northern India with Punjab at the forefront. These numbers are bound to in-crease as the hospitality sector has realised that this segment can garner huge revenues.ConclusionMicro-stay is a hotel mar-keting concept believed to have originated in Europe at the peak of the recession and gradually matured into a successful one for both travellers and ho-tel operators alike. There are occasions when travellers, mostly those in business, reach a destination early in the morning for few scheduled meetings in the city with a late-night flight to catch later. Such travellers may not want to pay the 24-hour rate for staying only few hours. This is a market segment which hotels can very well tap if there is a genuine will rather than keeping the inven-tory vacant in the expectation of a booking or for a guest who might check-in later in the day. Startup hotel aggregator, Luvstay designed its time slot in a similar fashion to help solo travellers, business backpackers, and many others.The advancements in technology, con-nectivity, purchasing power, and a sense of exploration have given birth to a new genera-tion of millennial and solo travellers who are keen to traverse the corners of the world and everything possible in between. This demand has further created an unprecedented scope for the hospitality industry to tap into leaving major and upcoming players bouncing at the very prospect. Sumit Anand
< Page 9 | Page 11 >