Nikita Garia is a blogger and contributes articles for The Wall Street Journal

At first glance, members of India’s business community may not appear to be mad about fitness, but a new survey of Asian business travelers says Indians are the most likely to seek out fitness centers and spas while on the road for work.

French hotel operator Accor carried out an online survey between the end of June and early July of business travelers from seven Asia-Pacific countries that included Australia, China, Indonesia, Singapore, New Zealand, Thailand and India. Hong Kong, though part of China, was surveyed as a separate region. About 10, 000 people responded to the survey, which asked them about their travel habits in the first half of 2011.

Of the roughly 500 Indians who took the survey, 85 % claimed they went to the fitness centers in the hotels they stayed in and 64% said they utilized the spa facilities in those hotels. This was way above the average for the Asia Pacific region as a whole – 76 % and 53 % respectively. Overall Asian road warriors seem to care about working out – Thai travelers were the least likely to use hotel gyms, but even 71% of them said they used the fitness centers.

The survey also found that India was second only to China when it came to the frequency of business travel. In India, executives across all levels made an average of 7.3 business trips each in the first half of the year, while in China, the average number of trips was 8.7.

Among Indian respondents, the overwhelming majority — 93% — of travelers were male. India had the lowest share of female respondents of the countries surveyed. This was rather low considering that “one out of four business travelers in Asia were female, ” said Evan Lewis, Accor’s Asia-Pacific spokesman, while talking about the findings in New Delhi on Wednesday.

A fifth of Indian respondents belonged to the manufacturing sector, compared to 15% for the survey as a whole, followed by retail and finance. “Surprisingly, the travelers belonging to the manufacturing sector in India was more than the average in Asia, ” said Mr. Lewis.

When it came to choosing a hotel, 27% of Indians preferred to stay in those hotels where they had previously stayed, while 22% cared about the hotel’s brand name. “Indians are less brand-conscious and give more importance to their past experience, ” said Mr. Lewis.

Singapore and Thailand were the top destinations for Indian business travelers. According to the survey, 51 % of Indian travelers visited Singapore at least once in the previous six months and 38 % traveled to Thailand for work.

Nikita Garia

25 Aug 2011

http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2011/08/25/what-the-indian-business-traveler-wants/

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The warmth of greeting and the ready smile is what charms you first. People are always polite and wish you the time of day whether you interact on the telephone or personally. Even the police officer, who nabs you for a traffic violation, will smile. When you grease his palm he will say, ‘thank you, sir’.

Driving here is a pleasure with good roads and petrol at one third the price back home, not to mention the large air-conditioned cars. Vehicles scrupulously stick to their lanes and meticulously follow traffic rules. Quite a contrast from good old Kanpur where one can suddenly be confronted with a car or scooter coming from the opposite direction with the driver audaciously waving at you imperiously to give way. Noise levels are low, hardly anyone blows a horn and there are no loudspeakers blaring film songs. I experience a sudden bout of nostalgia for Ganeshganj in Lucknow during peak traffic hours: horns blaring; cows, buffaloes, dogs squatting on the road while on the pavement loiterers spit out ‘paan’ & ‘paan-masala’ with a satisfying sound of ‘peetch.’

Jakarta by night

Jakarta has a large number of four wheelers and traffic jams are normal. The same journey can take 15 minutes on one day and an hour on another. I was amused to see three wheeler Bajaj scooters, imported from India in 1965, still running.

The country has more then 100 volcanoes, a number of them still active. Earthquakes are therefore common and I recall a tremor while I was at work on the 27th floor. It appeared as if some force had gripped the building and was shaking it violently.

We were witness to a momentous event when the first democratic election took place after almost 50 years. Flags of all political parties were displayed at important crossings by the Govt. and each party was allocated a particular day (by draw of lots) for their election rallies. These were very orderly with participants wearing T- shirts emblazoned with images of the leader or election symbol of the party. There were no loudspeakers blaring nor posters and banners on display.

The country is liberal in its religion and attitudes. The majority of the population follow a very liberal and modern form of Islam and one can spot churches, temples and gurudwaras. There is equality of the sexes and equal opportunity in the work place. I also did not come upon any incidents of eve teasing.

People are generally punctual and take pride in their work. Most employees wear uniforms displaying the logo of their company and there is great dignity of labour. A salesperson in a store sporting a tie will not hesitate to mop the floor if necessary. Tipping is a way of life and everyone expects tips, even the guy wearing a tie. Tea and coffee are savoured sans milk and in mild strength. Both are sipped so slowly that it may take up to an hour to finish a cup of tea.

Personal hygiene is taken very seriously and people bathe two to three times a day. Indonesians dress according to the occasion and invitation cards mention the dress code. Quite a change from what I had got accustomed to at places where staff comes to work in all manners of dress and even slippers. People are very health conscious and one hardly sees anyone who is overweight or displaying a paunch. On Sunday mornings, kids, adults and even the elderly, can be seen jogging, walking, cycling and playing football. Weren’t Sunday mornings meant for sleeping late?

Indian culture has greatly influenced the local culture. The Rupiah 20, 000 currency note has a picture of Lord Ganesha printed on it. There is a huge Arjuna Rath built in the centre of Jakarta and names of Hindu gods like Gayatri, Sanjaya, Lakshmi and Laksamana are common. Indian philosophy recommends detachment from material things and also the inevitability of death and rebirth, but this still leaves Indians amongst the most worried people in the world. I noticed Indonesian’s follow the Indian philosophy of detachment and do not weep when someone dies.

The Indonesian language, called Bahasa Indonesia, contains a number of Sanskrit words. Incidentally, the word Bhasha in India means language. Local TV channels and many movie theatres show either dubbed or sub titled Hindi movies. ‘Kuchh Kuchh Hota Hai’, the title of a movie, is a frequently used greeting towards an Indian. The beautiful woodcarvings made here with skilled hands, often depict scenes from the Hindu epics of Ramayana and Mahabharat. Indonesians have a tremendous sense of art and aesthetics and the flower decorations, gift wrappings and cut fruit displays are exquisite.

You will wonder what the irritants of living here are. A guest is not expected to criticise his host. I love the country and its people. What I possibly value most about my stay here, is that I learnt a great deal about how to enjoy life.

B.S. Bhasin

2011

http://indiatravelogue.com/trav/impr32.html

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