Online travel bookings booming in China, India, driven by millennials

Digital travel sales in China and India are far outpacing the rest of the world and that is expected to continue for the next several years.

According to a reporter from eMarketer, Global Digital Travel Sales 2018: Ease of Mobile Payment Options Boost Online Bookings, digital travel sales worldwide will increase 10.4% this year compared to 2017, to $694 billion.

But China will see a 20.5% increase in its online travel bookings during that same period, bringing in nearly $134 billion in 2018.

And while the pace of growth in China is expected to slow in the next few years, to about 13% in 2021, it will still be nearly double the worldwide growth rate.

Growth in China is expected to be so rapid that the country will nearly catch up to the United States in sales by the end of the forecast period," says Corey McNair, author of eMarketer's report.

"Between 2017 and 2022, China’s growth rate will more than triple that of the U.S. each year. The U.S. will still grow steadily and generate more than $200 billion in annual sales through the end of the forecast period. However, growth is slowing due to the maturity of the digital travel market.”

India is predicted to have growth similar to China this year, up 20% compared to 2017 to a total of $23.7 billion.

The report says millennials are driving the shift to online bookings in both China and India, in part due to better mobile Internet connections and improved travel apps and mobile payment channels.

EMarketer also find that millennials in China “are finding deals via social media and are less reliant on group tours for sightseeing.”