Popular travel destinations in India: As the coronavirus pandemic has become an endemic, places have begun opening up again. After two years of subdued spirits and bare essentials, the travel sector seems to be properly resuming in and outside India. The elation in this regard is only enhanced by the fact that many states and UTs in India, including Maharashtra, Haryana and Delhi, have lifted mandates requiring masks. Now, holiday planning and booking platform Booking.com has revealed that it has been witnessing an increase in travel searches for the upcoming summer months.
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The platform had earlier released a Travel Predictions 2022 research, which stated that 83% of Indian travellers were looking to go on any vacation, as long as their budget provided for it, while 65% of the travellers in India had expressed their willingness to go on a vacation if it was a type of trip they wished for. Now, the platform has said that summer holidays could mark the return of travel for Indians.
The searches witnessed by Booking.com have indicated that beach and hill destinations are going to be preferred by travellers in the country. Goa, Srinagar, Manali, Ooty and Rishikesh have emerged alongside metros like Bengaluru, Mumbai and New Delhi as the most popular destinations for travellers in India for the period between April 1 and June 30, this year. During this time, hotels have continued to be the preferred accommodation type, after which resorts were the popular choice. This was followed by guest houses, homestays and apartments. Looking outside India, however, during this period, the most popular international destinations for Indians emerged to be London, followed by Paris, Dubai, Toronto and Amsterdam.
However, it is not just Indian travellers who are looking to travel. With India’s border restrictions easing in light of reduced COVID-19 cases across the world, India is once again being explored by international travellers as a viable tourist destination. Between April 1 and June 30, people from several different countries will be travelling to India. Among this, most will be from the US, according to Booking.com data, followed by travellers from the UK, Australia, the UAE and Germany.
There is still a little bit of uncertainty that is surrounding the travel sector, especially with the fear of new coronavirus variants emerging and creating chaos. Despite that, many travellers are looking to go out and on a vacation. What’s more is that most of the travellers (72%) told the platform that money was not an issue for them as they had been saving money since the pandemic started by not taking any big trips. Due to this aspect, these people are looking at a wider choice of destinations or taking a more adventurous approach. Moreover, 79% of the travellers even expressed their willingness to go on vacation that is different from their preferences from before the pandemic, like wellness and sustainable travel which emerged as major vacation types in the last two years.