August travel trends: Here is how Indian travellers are travelling during the long weekends

The world has started to emerge from strict border closures and Indians are eager to hit the roads and the skies for a trip. The month of August officially marks the beginning of the festive season and this year Indian travellers are blessed with extended long weekends in the month of August, enabling them to plan longer holidays.

As per the recent APAC Travel Confidence Index Report by Booking.com, 86 per cent of Indian travellers stated that they intend to travel in the next 12 months. And despite some COVID-19 restrictions, travel optimism continues to remain high with 70 per cent of Indian travellers accepting of anticipated travel disruptions and 78 per cent considering leisure travel as important while keeping their overall health and safety in mind. Keeping the optimism of Indian travellers in mind and further delving into the travel behaviour of Indians for the period of August 1- August 31, 2022, Booking.com has shared key booking trends for India as the festive season commences.

Further deep diving into the travel behaviour of Indian travellers, the destination range beyond metros like New Delhi and Mumbai and leisure, closer to home destinations like Kochi and Lonavala, rather Indian travellers are travelling to religious and historical destinations like Varanasi and Agra in addition to hill and beach destinations like Ooty and Pondicherry. These trends give a holistic overview of travel destinations and preferences of both Indian travellers within India in the month of August 2022, and Indians travelling abroad.

For Indians travelling internationally, other than the UK, USA and France, they are also booking destinations which are easier to reach and visas can be accessed easily such as Thailand and Indonesia. Hotels continue to be the top booked accommodation type by Indians travelling domestically. Besides hotels, Indians are also looking to stay in alternative accommodations like resorts, guesthouses, homestays and hostels.

Different kind of domestic destinations explored by Indian travellers during the festive period of August 1 - August 31, 2022

While New Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru are top three metro destinations preferred by Indian travellers for the month of August, many in India are also exploring leisure destinations like Lonavala, Pune and Kochi, religious destinations like Tirupati, Shirdi and Rishikesh, historical and culturally rich destinations like Jaipur, Udaipur and Agra, or travelling to beach destinations like Pondicherry, Goa and Puri and scenic destinations like Ooty, Munnar and Kodaikanal.

Indian traveller behaviour while travelling internationally for the period of August 1 - August 31 2022

When looking at international destinations most preferred by Indian travellers for the extended long weekend, destinations such as Thailand, Indonesia, Turkey, Vietnam and UAE made it to the top 10 list in addition to countries like UK, USA, France, Switzerland and Malaysia. This also shows that Indians are opting for destinations where obtaining the tourist visa is easier as compared to other countries.

Accommodations preferred - from hotels to hostels

When it comes to accommodation choice, Indians are more likely opting for hotels in addition to alternate accommodation options like - resort, guest houses, homestays and hostels.

Ritu Mehrotra, Regional Commercial Director APAC at Booking.com, said, “With Raksha Bandhan on Thursday followed by Independence Day on Monday, Janmashtami on Friday and many such holidays coming up in August, it is a great opportunity for extended weekend getaways. As per Booking.com’s APAC Travel Confidence Index research released recently, 78 per cent of Indian travellers consider leisure travel as important while keeping their overall health and safety in mind. A testimony to this is our search data that shows that Indians are making travel plans during this festive period and using this opportunity to travel either to near-by destinations or long-haul domestic and international destinations.”

To tap into this demand and make it easier for everyone to explore the world once again, Booking.com is offering Getaway Deals for travellers to use when booking their next trip. Discounts start at a minimum of 15 per cent and are valid for stays till September 30, 2022. In addition, Booking.com is bringing the great value of its Genius programme to even more customers by giving all account holders access to the programme’s Level 1 benefits, with no minimum number of previous bookings to qualify, including access to exclusive 10 per cent discounts at hundreds of thousands of participating properties around the world. All travellers have to do is download the Booking.com app, log in and look for the Genius logo to identify associated benefits, discounts and perks.