Mountains calling! Hill stations become tourists’ favourite, Manali, Shimla, Mcleodganj, Dharamshala top the chart: Dharamveer Singh Chouhan, Zostel

Popular hill stations in India: Call of the mountains entices Indian travellers, as does snowfall! Many conversations among people today begin with a complaint about the weather or how the pandemic has changed everything, particularly their travel plans and family vacations. However, a recent survey by Zostel indicates a renewed interest in offbeat locations, mountains, hill stations in Delhi and places that witness snowfall.

Wondering which is the most beautiful hill station in India? Take a look at what travellers are indicating, as per Zostel’s recent survey.

Popular hill stations near Delhi

In this context, a survey by Zostel, which spans about 1730 respondents, sheds light on understanding their preferred travel choices such as the destinations they want to travel to, their areas of concern and travel durations. This includes hill stations near Delhi, hill stations in Uttarakhand and hill stations in Himachal.

While 50 per cent of the respondents were within the 18-25 age group, about 37 per cent were in the 26-30 category and 10 per cent were from the 31-35 category. From this, around 59 per cent were considering to travel for the first time after the lockdown.

Top travel trends: Hill stations to visit in India

Speaking to Financial Express Online’s Swapna Raghu Saand, Dharamveer Singh Chouhan, Co- Founder & CEO at Zostel stated, “If we see the travel and booking trends, owing to the snowfall, people are headed up North in the mountains. Manali is favourite followed by Shimla, Mcleodganj & Dharamshala. We have seen a growing craze of visiting offbeat locations like, Kotkhai, Theog, Cheog, Shangarh, Dobhi, which resulted in the growth of our sales around 60% as opposed to this time last year. Overall, we are at 80% of what we were this time last year.”

Hilly regions are enticing Indian travellers, particularly Bir, Gangtok, Leh, Manali, Mcleodganj, Mussoorie and Rishikesh among others. Interestingly, Gokarna emerged a favourite among beach destinations.

Financial Express Online had earlier reported that the travel and hospitality segment is witnessing green shoots, particularly in hilly regions. Given the recent launches by Leisure Hotel Group in Rishikesh and ITC’s first hotel in Shimla, these are clear indications of uptick in demand for travel to the mountains.

READ: Green shoots of tourism picking up across cities

According to Dharam Singh Chouhan, the coming months are set to witness a rise in all types of travellers, particularly with solo travellers leading the pack. He further shared with Financial Express Online that the future plan for Zostel would be to unlock more destinations with renewed focus on offbeat locations.

With more travellers trying to enjoy Nature-centric and outdoor activities with their children, hill stations are set to witness significant demand and footfall in the coming months.