The festive season is underway and a lot of people are going to take a break. While some choose to stay at home, others make their way out of the cities, and a new travel trends report reveals that there are a lot of new emerging trends, ahead of Diwali.
Interestingly, festive travel spending is moving deep into India’s Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities this season.
The data curated by Cleartrip PeekABoo travel trends tracker reveals that travel and hotel demand is decentralising rapidly across the country. Indians are officially swapping traditional metro holidays for offbeat getaways and regional hubs.
Booming demand across hotels and flights
Leisure hotel bookings have risen 135 per cent for Diwali so far and 66 per cent for Navratri. Udaipur’s hotel bookings have more than quadrupled at 316 per cent for Diwali so far, while bookings in major tech and heritage hubs like Bengaluru and Jaipur have nearly tripled with increases of 189 per cent and 174 per cent, respectively.
Flight bookings to Agatti grew 130 per cent, Gaya 98 per cent and Dimapur 80 per cent. Other domestic destinations recording flight growth include Udaipur (59 per cent), Dibrugarh (37 per cent), Gorakhpur (34 per cent), Jabalpur (29 per cent), Imphal (24 per cent) and Dehradun (9 per cent).
Gen-Z takes to the skies
Gen-Z travellers are driving flight growth. Bookings among travellers aged between 15–24 years increased by 60 per cent, compared with 6 per cent among those aged 25–34 years. Simultaneously, women’s share of bookings grew 44 per cent over the same period.
Growth across price points, alongside bus travel
The holiday boom is evident across every hotel category. Budget stays are leading with a massive 201 per cent jump in bookings, closely followed by luxury properties at 162 per cent, mid-range accommodations at 148 per cent, and premium hotels at 114 per cent. This shows that travel demand is strong across all income segments this festive season.
Bus travel remains primarily driven by traditional festive migration as people head back to their hometowns. Bookings grew 80 per cent for Delhi, 76 per cent for Pune, 68 per cent for Nagpur, 63 per cent for Chennai and 57 per cent for Mumbai.
Emerging unusual international destinations
International flight bookings are growing across less conventional destinations. Taipei leads with 146 per cent growth, followed by Cebu at 117 per cent, Dublin at 110 per cent, Phu Quoc at 106 per cent, and Osaka recorded 74 per cent growth.
This year’s festive season points to a highly active holiday movement, signalling a broader shift in Indian consumer behaviour. There is a clear distribution of travel spending away from traditional hubs and hotel tiers. For many Indians, travel is becoming an increasingly important part of celebrating the festive season.
Report reveals more Gen-Z booking flights for travel getaways than Millennials
