Indians Are Asia’s Biggest Foreign Tourists — And AI Is Smoothing The Experience

A young population with a median age of 27.6, an economy that is the fifth-largest in the world, the fact that it is now the world’s most populous country and a consumer of goods and services that is set to double by 2030 — all combine to create an environment that stimulates appetite for international travel among Indians.

A study on the Indian travel market, released earlier this month by global management consultants McKinsey, reveals that India is the largest source in Asia of outbound tourism, with 13 million Indians travelling abroad in 2022 — outstripping China, Malaysia, Australia, and every other country in the region.

One of the first nations to throw off Covid anxieties, India has recovered 61 per cent of its pre-pandemic travel or tourism market — and Indians, in what is being called "revenge tourism," are heading abroad in record numbers, wherever they are welcomed.

Over 70 per cent of Indian travellers opt for nearby destinations, with travel time of four hours or less.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE), popularly called the Gulf, is a top pick for Indians due to affordable flights and a wide range of hotel accommodation for all purses.

Travel-happy Indians have pushed neighbouring countries to court them with special offerings: Thailand has launched over 50 marketing campaigns with Indians as the target — like destination shaadis (weddings).

Azerbaijan is an unusual candidate for Indian tourists, showing what sensitive policies can do. Electronic visa processing is done in three days flat, restaurants and hotels suitable for Indians have sprung up, and direct flights make travel easy.

Flights to Vietnam from multiple Indian airports this year have seen arrivals at an all-time high, says the McKinsey study. Fares are cheap — around Rs 7,000 for one way, which is comparable to a Chennai or Thiruvananthapuram to Delhi economy fare at most times.

Thanks to Bollywood, Indians are familiar with many locales in Switzerland and have made it a favourite European destination.

This may also be the case because tourist visas are easier to get — unlike the majority of West European countries, who have made it extremely hard for any type of traveller to get a visa and, until recently, had a wait time of months.

Canny Indians also seek destinations where one can get a visa on arrival. Tata AIG has compiled a list of popular countries that issue a visa on arrival for Indians. These countries include the Maldives, Myanmar, Fiji, Sri Lanka, and Seychelles. Some of them provide free visas.

Digital and AI Solutions

To keep globetrotters like Indians coming to their country, the travel, tourism, and hospitality industries have had to innovate with new technologies: digital solutions and artificial intelligence (AI) are central to this initiative.

International travellers, including Indians, have come to expect such technology-fuelled experiences at all their touch points: self-check-in and keyless, mobile-phone-based room entry at hotels; alerts of weather or operations-induced flight delays from their travel agents; contactless airport check-in, baggage check-in, security, and boarding at airport; prompts of leisure activities; and on-board entertainment on cruises.

If passengers pass through Munich Airport in Germany today, they can use, for free, baggage trolleys fitted with tablet PCs, on which they can enter their flight data manually or scan their boarding card. They will then receive their flight information in real time.

In addition to their departure gate, passengers can select facilities such as shops and restaurants. They are guided through the terminal by a map with an integrated directory, and receive offers based on their location.

The Caribbean nation of Aruba may be the first in the world to accept digital travel credentials (DTC) — verifiable digital credentials, eliminating the need for passengers to show their physical passport when arriving on the island.

"The development of digital travel credentials represents the biggest innovation in the travel industry in at least a decade," says Jeremy Springall, senior vice president at Switzerland-based travel technology leader SITA, which crafted the solution with partner Indicio.

"It will fundamentally simplify how we travel, allowing governments to approve passengers ahead of travel so they arrive at the airport ready to fly. To be identified, all passengers need to do is scan their face."

Largest Airline Passenger Cloud

SITA is also the technology partner of the Airports Authority of India to provide advanced technology to 43 of India’s largest airports.

This jumbo deal will enable Indian airports to shift to common-cloud, common-use passenger experiences where multiple airlines can leverage the same infrastructure, such as check-in counters, self-service kiosks, and boarding gates, without having to operate hundreds of separate servers.

This is the world’s largest cloud deployment for passenger processing.

An earlier (September 2023) McKinsey study, 'The promise of travel in the age of AI', examines how digital technology and AI are empowering the industry to reimagine the travel experience and unlock long-term growth.

"It’s quite clear that if you work through the customer journey and the process of trying to understand where you want to go, where you want to stay, what are the things you want to see, how you want to plan your day-by-day itinerary, AI significantly eases the process of travel discovery," says McKinsey partner Vik Krishnan.

According to the annual HiltonTravel Trends report 2024, 80 per cent of global travellers surveyed said it is important to be able to book their trip entirely online, with 86 per cent of millennials and 83 per cent of Gen Zers leading the charge — and 76 per cent of global travellers said they appreciate travel apps that reduce the friction and stress of travel.

The Hilton study predicts that in 2024 travellers will seek out consistent and seamless experience, hyper-personalised to their needs, from booking to on-property experiences.

Solutions for India, by India

Interestingly, Indian players are among the first to harness — and, in some cases, craft — AI-fuelled technology solutions for the travel and tourism market:

– UnCruise Adventures, which operates nine vessels to destinations like Alaska, Hawaii, Costa Rica, Panama Canal, Belize, Mexico, and the Galapagos, has become the latest cruise line to implement Thiruvananthapuram-headquartered IBS Software’s iTravelCruise enterprise reservation system.

The system transforms back-end information technology (IT) to give cruise lines the ability to aggregate product data from different sources. Access to real-time data about customer behaviour allows them to package and price cruises products dynamically, across multiple channels.

– In July, travel booking platform ixigo became the first in India to harness OpenAI’s ChatGPT to build an intelligent trip planner called PLAN by ixigo.

It processes and understands user preferences, offering people personalised recommendations, suggestions, and itineraries.

PLAN combines the power of ChatGPT and the best travel data to let users build their own travel plans and discover fact-checked, personalised attractions, restaurants, activities, hotels, tours, and more.

– Air India under the Tata management has committed $200 million for its project Vihaan.AI, a five-year plan to put Air India on a path to sustained growth, profitability, and market leadership.

It has set up technology teams in Kochi and Gurugram, as well as in Silicon Valley in the United States of America, to deliver this AI-fuelled vision.

– Some studies have pointed out that the average Indian air traveller spends more than 75 per cent of total travel time waiting at airports or connecting flights.

Bengaluru-based video analysis specialist AllGoVision has powered the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, which serves Hyderabad, with a video-analytics-driven queue management solution.

It provides real-time data, helping them tackle long queues at the entrance, security, and immigration. This application has resulted in increased operational efficiency and heightened passenger experience.

It additionally helps strengthen airport security and makes operations more efficient.

In any case, digital technology is not new to the Indian traveller. Made-in-India tools like UPI (Unified Payments Interface) payments and the contactless, biometric-based airport app, DigiYatra, have conditioned them to expect new levels of comfort and ease in their interfaces at airports, cruise terminals, shopping arcades, and other travel-related facilities.

Now, the world has to deliver experiences that rise to the expectations of footloose, fancy-free Indian travellers. They have set the bar high for the travel, tourism, and hospitality industry.