Domestic Travel Planning & Booking Behaviour Survey
Map how leisure and business travellers evaluate destinations, compare booking channels, and choose accommodation and transport options, so you can sharpen acquisition targeting, fix conversion drop-offs, and benchmark pricing against willingness to pay.
CONTEXT & RELEVANCE
Why run this survey now
Most travel brands don't lose domestic bookers purely on price. They lose them due to misread trip triggers, channel-stage mismatches, last-minute intent shifts, loyalty friction, and destination-confidence gaps, none of which fully show up in booking platform analytics or post-trip satisfaction scores.
If you are...
- OTA competing on inventory depth
- Hotel chain vs aggregator positioning
- Travel product or packaging head
- Revenue and distribution strategy lead
- Destination marketing or tourism board
You're likely facing...
- Booking window compression: intent vs conversion
- OTA vs direct channel preference gap
- Price vs experience trade-off tension
- Repeat traveller loyalty erosion
- Destination discovery: search vs social split
This will help answer...
- Primary booking channel by segment
- Trip-trigger to conversion drop-off
- Solo vs group planning differences
- Spend ceiling by destination type
- Repeat visit vs switching triggers
RESEARCH THEMES
What This Survey Investigates
Eight interconnected research themes that map the complete traveller journey from trip inspiration to post-trip advocacy.
Trip Inspiration
- Inspiration sources, trigger events
- First destination considered
Destination Selection
- Shortlisting criteria, trade-offs
- Domestic vs. international consideration
Search & Discovery
- Platform touchpoints, search sequence
- OTA vs. direct channel entry
Booking Behaviour
- Booking channel, lead time
- Bundled vs. standalone purchase patterns
Pricing & Spend
- Budget thresholds, category allocation
- Price sensitivity, deal triggers
Journey Friction
- Drop-off points, abandonment triggers
- Cancellation and rebooking friction
Trust & Reviews
- Review platforms consulted, recency weight
- Trust signals at point of booking
Loyalty & Advocacy
- Repeat platform usage, switching triggers
- Referral behaviour, post-trip sharing
SAMPLING STRATEGY
Tell us about your ideal sample
Help us understand your target respondent profile. Select what applies, we'll design the optimal sample plan based on your inputs.
METHODOLOGY
Survey approach
For the Domestic Travel Planning and Booking Behaviour Survey, we recommend a quant-first design with flexible data-collection modes to balance reach, depth, and verification across traveller segments and booking channels.
EXECUTION PROCESS
How we execute
A proven 9-step process from scoping to delivery, designed to ensure quality, speed, and actionable insights.
Define the decision frame
Confirm objectives, target cohorts, geographies, and reporting cuts
Define the decision frame
Design the instrument
Build workstream modules mapped to outputs (drivers, friction, pricing, retention, trust)
Design the instrument
Lock the questionnaire
Review wording, sequencing, LOI, and competitive context; approve final version
Lock the questionnaire
Pilot and calibrate
Test comprehension and ease quality; refine quotas and remove friction where needed
Pilot and calibrate
Run fieldwork
Execute collection with active quota management and feasibility controls
Run fieldwork
Assure quality
Dedupe, attention checks, speed/consistency rules, removals with audit trail
Assure quality
Prepare the dataset
Clean data and deliver codebook/variable definitions
Prepare the dataset
Analyse and synthesise
Driver ranking, leakage diagnostics, pricing bands, segment insights
Analyse and synthesise
Deliver and align
Executive deck (optional dashboard) and leadership readout with recommendations
Deliver and align
COMMERCIAL TERMS
Request a Commercial Proposal
Pricing depends on cohort, geography, sample size, approach, LOI, and deliverables. Configure below for an indicative estimate.
Select Sample Size
Geography
Select Mode of Survey
Length of the Interview
$0.00
+ applicable taxes
Cost Breakdown
Note: Estimate is indicative only. Final pricing is subject to scope finalization after discovery call.
REFERENCE CASELETS
Reference
Real-world examples of survey work in the domestic travel planning space.
Accommodation preference & booking channel mapping (India)
OBJECTIVE
WHAT WE DID
DELIVERED
Accommodation preference & booking channel mapping (India)
Trip planning trigger & itinerary decision study (South India)
Accommodation preference & booking channel mapping (India)
OBJECTIVE
A mid-size hospitality brand needed to map how leisure travellers and bleisure travellers shortlist, compare, and commit to accommodation, and identify which booking channel attributes drive final conversion versus abandonment.
WHAT WE DID
Ran a structured quant survey across 1,200 respondents in 8 Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities, capturing channel shortlisting sequence, price sensitivity thresholds, cancellation triggers, and loyalty programme influence at each stage of the booking journey.
DELIVERED
A channel preference map by traveller segment, a booking friction list ranked by drop-off severity, a price corridor by stay duration and city tier, and a set of message territories for direct booking acquisition.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Common Questions
Answers to frequently asked questions about this survey mandate.
What decisions will this survey enable?
Who is the buyer vs who are the respondents?
Can we see differences between solo travellers, family group travellers and corporate road warriors?
How will you measure destination and platform preference beyond simple ratings?
Will the survey map the full trip planning and booking journey and drop-offs?
Can this survey inform product and pricing strategy?
How will findings improve our platform acquisition and retention strategy?
Still have questions?
Schedule a discovery call to discuss your specific needs and get a custom quote.