As international travel slowly returns to normal, online travel firm Booking.com said it is still viewing longtime travelers as a global trend. Worldwide in 2021, 25% of all rooms booked on its platform were for stays of seven nights or more, the global e-commerce travel company said.
Fast forward to 2022 and the company is still seeing a three- or seven-day stagnation, with the summer months making up more than half (54%) of searches, and about 20% of summer searches. A stay of eight plus days is accounted for. As a result, the company has launched monthly and weekly tariffs on its platform.
“The hybrid working model is here to stay and people realize it’s a good idea for them to work from any different location,” said Ritu Mehrotra, the company’s commercial director for APAC, China and Oceania.
In India, travel for the summer season is looking encouraging, she said. Big cities like New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai and Kolkata continue to be the most booked destinations on its platform. After this, hill stations and beaches come amidst the heat of summer.
Goa, Ooty, Manali, Rishi-Ikesh, Srinagar, Darjeeling, MCL-Id Ganj and Gangtok are some of the favorite destinations of Indian travelers this summer. “India is doing a little better than in 2019 right now. We are seeing leisure travel at its peak. Bookings for the summer period are now 15% higher than in 2019,” she said. Indian travelers are showing increasing confidence in international travel as well, especially in summer. Most popular international destinations for May-June The UK, France, US, Switzerland, Thailand, Canada and Italy added Mehrotra.
Meanwhile, India’s travel market is expected to bounce back and cross $125 billion by 2026-27, said a report by Redcore, Redcore, a branch of RedSeer, on the travel market in India. It said the travel business was at $75 billion pre-pandemic in FY 19-20. This will expand to over $125 billion by FY 2026-27, taking into account both inbound and outbound travel by Indians. People are also searching for more sustainable travel options after the pandemic. Mehrotra said that 91% of Indian travelers want to travel more permanently in the next one year and 80% have stayed in a permanent residence.