Spiritual destinations are stealing the show in India’s travel market with such locations recording a 97 percent surge in searches in the last two years, according to an analysis by online travel aggregator (OTA) MakeMyTrip.
India travel trends: Search for spiritual destinations surges 97%, Delhi scores high in inquiries
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Searches for Ayodhya grew 585 percent, Ujjain by 359 percent and Badrinath by 343 percent in 2023 over the previous year, said the report launched by the OTA on April 22. Tier-2 and tier-3 cities are embracing spiritual journeys, it added.
The report also added that people taking more than three trips per year has grown by 25 percent in 2023 as compared to 2019.
Where India travels
On the international front, 30 percent of all foreign travel searches from India are for Dubai, Bangkok and Singapore, while London, Toronto and New York are the most searched long-haul destinations.
Searches for emerging international destinations grew by multi-fold in 2023 and the hot favourites include Hong Kong, Almaty, Paro, Baku, Da Nang and Tbilisi. Travel to unexplored destinations has increased which has led to over 30 percent growth in searches for 16 emerging destinations. As many as 31 unique destinations contribute to 60 percent of searches from all six metros including Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Mumbai.
Delhi NCR and Goa are the most searched destination from all six metros. Delhi has the highest share in terms of searches in 2023 at 11.4 percent, followed by Mumbai at 7.2 percent, Bengaluru at 5.4 percent, and Goa at 5.3 percent.
In the domestic flights category, tier II cities have emerged as the highest growth destinations. Lucknow, Thiruvananthapuram Indore and Bhubaneshwar lead with maximum searches.
Travel sentiment touched an all-time high in November 2022 with seven out of 10 people planning travel, the OTA said. It added that there has been 45 percent growth in searches as compared to the pre-pandemic period. As many as 100 million people are actively searching for travel on MakeMyTrip platform annually.
How India travels
Family travel bookings surged by 64 percent in 2023 as compared to 2022, followed by solo travel booking a 23 percent growth.
Two people travelling together make for 50 percent of all bookings.
Indians continue to make last minute travel plans with a significant portion of travel bookings in India are made spontaneously, with 46 percent of domestic flights booked less than a week before the travel date. On the other hand, about half of all international bookings are made at least two weeks in advance. Only one-third of international bookings are made more than a month before the travel date, suggesting a flexible approach to international travel planning among Indian travellers.
For flight bookings, women prefer to pre-book window seats and men pick aisle seats. Tomato cucumber cheese lettuce sandwich is the most ordered in-flight meal on domestic flights. Vegetarian Hindu meal is the most ordered in-flight meal on international flights.
Delhi travellers are over-indexed on booking domestic flights less than a week ahead of travel date while travellers from Kolkata have a higher inclination to book flights over three months in advance for both international and domestic destinations.
Where India stays
Alternative accommodations including homestays and villas recorded 24 percent growth in bookings in 2023 on MakeMyTrip as Indians are searching for stays that provide an emotional connection with culture and nature, the platform said.
Hostels and apartments recorded maximum search growth of 39 percent and 31 percent respectively in 2023.
For hostels and apartments, the preference is for those properties which cost less than Rs 2,500 per night but for villas, it is higher. Close to 20 percent of family travellers searched for properties with tariffs over Rs 10,000 per night last year.
More than 50 percent of the family travellers and 75 percent of the solo travellers booked a property for stay below Rs 4,500 .
Weekend getaways emerged as the highest growth destinations in the domestic hotels category. Jim Corbett leads with 131 percent growth in searches on MakeMyTrip followed by Ooty and Munnar. A large number of these hotel customers are driving to these destinations from nearby metros.
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People from Maharashtra contribute to highest domestic hotel searches. Travellers from Maharashtra, Kerala and Karnataka searched more for villas while maximum searches were done for hostels in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Goa.
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