Paris has emerged as the top destination in Europe for Indian travellers, closely followed by London, according to a British Airways survey released on Tuesday.
As per the airline's 'Travel Habits Survey' as many 24% of Indian travellers picked Paris as the number one destination in Europe, while 20% respondents chose London. The survey also indicated that nearly half (48%) of the Indian participants were inspired to visit the UK following popular British movie series 'James Bond', while 42% and 34% of the respondents said they find their travel inspiration was from 'Harry Potter' and 'Sherlock Holmes' films respectively.
British Airways conducted the research between February and March across selected countries in Asia Pacific and asked over 500 Indian participants about their travel habits. As per the online survey, legendary English footballer David Beckham is first choice (British celebrity) as a flying companion (32%) for travellers from India. Other popular flying companion choices among travellers from India included Harry Potter actress and model Emma Watson (29%) and James Bond actor Daniel Craig (24%).
"The survey has revealed some very interesting insights about India's leisure and business travellers....The findings from the survey will help us to focus on making flying even better for our customers from India," British Airways' regional general manager (South Asia) Moran Birger said in a release. It is the British Airways' first-ever 'Travel Habit Survey' for travellers from India.
The survey also showed that 64% of Indians feel that the availability of family fun activities are the most important factor when choosing a holiday destination. Travellers from India also said that they will choose destinations based on historical landmarks and if the destinations come with great shopping choices. On airport shopping preferences, most Indians said that they liked to buy food and drink items when they are travelling (27%).
Male travellers said that they liked buying perfumes or colognes (15%) from the airport stores, while designer clothes and jewellery are the preference of the women (9% and 10% respectively). The French capital also tops the dream destination list for sightseers from China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea and Singapore.
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