Sherman, CT USA -- Despite facing a myriad of challenges from within and outside the travel industry, India remains among the fastest growing travel markets in the Asia Pacific region, according to a new PhoCusWright report. Although the country's slowing economy, depreciating rupee, and ailing airline industry burden the travel market, gross bookings will march ahead by double digits through 2015, when they will reach US$28.8 billion.

"The weakness of the rupee and overall economic sluggishness in the Indian economy have definitely taken a toll," says Chetan Kapoor, PhoCusWright's research analyst, Asia Pacific. "But while the Indian travel market appeared flat in dollar terms in 2012, nearly all travel segments saw double-digit increases in local currency terms, and most will maintain strong growth through 2015."

Online travel in India continues to outpace the total travel market, with online gross bookings projected to reach $12.5 billion in 2015, up 80% over 2012. While air and rail make up the vast majority of India's online travel market, the country's fragmented hotel landscape poses the biggest opportunity. Online lodging bookings will rise more than 30% annually over the next several years as OTAs push to expand their offerings beyond air.

PhoCusWright's India Online Travel Overview Sixth Edition: Rail and Hotel Steal the Spotlight presents market sizing and projections for India's total and online leisure and unmanaged business travel markets from 2011-2015. The report features rich analysis of the Indian travel market, with coverage of online versus offline bookings, bookings by travel segment, supplier-direct versus intermediary bookings and more.

Highlights include:

  • Total market and online leisure/unmanaged business travel bookings for 2011-2015
  • Mobile travel gross bookings for 2012-2015
  • Analysis of major travel product segments – air, hotel, rail and car rental
  • Comparison of supplier-branded websites and online travel agencies (OTAs), including bookings and projected growth rates through 2015
  • Discussion of the OTA landscape, including key players, recent developments and the relative influence of local versus global OTAs
  • Macroeconomic factors impacting the Indian travel market – gross domestic product (GDP), oil prices and exchange rate volatility

PhoCusWright's India Online Travel Overview Sixth Edition: Rail and Hotel Steal the Spotlight gives travel companies the information and insight they need to make informed decisions about India's dynamic travel market.

About PhoCusWright Inc.

PhoCusWright is the travel industry research authority on how travelers, suppliers and intermediaries connect. Independent, rigorous and unbiased, PhoCusWright fosters smart strategic planning, tactical decision-making and organizational effectiveness.

PhoCusWright delivers qualitative and quantitative research on the evolving dynamics that influence travel, tourism and hospitality distribution. Our marketplace intelligence is the industry standard for segmentation, sizing, forecasting, trends, analysis and consumer travel planning behavior. Every day around the world, senior executives, marketers, strategists and research professionals from all segments of the industry value chain use PhoCusWright research for competitive advantage.

To complement its primary research in North and Latin America, Europe and Asia, PhoCusWright produces several high-profile conferences in the United States and Germany, and partners with conferences in China and Singapore. Industry leaders and company analysts bring this intelligence to life by debating issues, sharing ideas and defining the ever-evolving reality of travel commerce.

The company is headquartered in the United States with Asia Pacific operations based in India and local analysts on five continents.

PhoCusWright is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Northstar Travel Media, LLC.