Indians travel more often and choose to go to spiritual locations: Report

According to a research released on Monday, Indians are traveling more often and searching more for holy locations like Ayodhya, Ujjain, and Badrinath.
According to the MakeMyTrip India Travel Trends Report, which delves into travel habits based on data from its network of over 100 million active yearly users, there has been a 25% rise in the number of individuals who take more than three trips a year since 2019.

An increasing number of people are becoming interested in spiritual travel. The survey states that there was a 97% rise in searches for spiritual tourism in 2023 compared to 2021.

There is a noticeable increase in searches for locations with religious importance in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities in particular. According to the research, searches for Ayodhya increased by an astounding 585 percent in 2023 over 2022.

In a similar vein, searches increased by 359 percent in Ujjain and 343 percent in Badrinath.

According to the research, weekend trips remain popular, as seen by the 131% increase in searches for Jim Corbett National Park in 2023 over 2022. Popular options include hill destinations like Ooty and Munnar, particularly for those from the south of the nation.

The survey provides insight into the preferences of travelers to other countries as well. Long-haul travelers are most likely to go to London, Toronto, or New York, while the top three most searched destinations are still Dubai, Bangkok, and Singapore.

As searches for destinations like Hong Kong, Almaty (Kazakhstan), Paro (Bhutan), Baku (Azerbaijan), Da Nang (Vietnam), and Tbilisi (Georgia) have all shown a considerable rise in 2023, the data suggests that there is an increasing interest in off-the-beaten-path areas.

In addition, family travel reservations are rising—the research notes a 64% increase in 2023 over 2022. Bookings for solo travel increased by 23% in the same time frame.