Agoda, Scapia data show festive travel surge to new destinations

Travel booking data from two platforms shows Indian travellers are booking holidays at three to four times last year’s rate during the October-to-December festive season, with interest expanding to lesser-known destinations in India and abroad. Agoda reported that searches for Sri Lanka jumped 262%, Hong Kong 138% and Japan 125%, while within India, Puri saw a 318% rise, Ooty 166% and Munnar 107%. The data, based on accommodation searches from August to September for stays between 15 October and 30 November, also showed Bangkok, Phuket and Tokyo as the most searched international cities.

Scapia, a travel fintech platform, reported that bookings for beach and hill stays during Dussehra week each rose 3.5 times year-on-year. Goa bookings increased 4.4 times, while Gokarna recorded an eightfold rise and Varkala and Kollam also gained. Among hill stations, Srinagar, Mussoorie and Manali saw bookings grow six to seven times. Internationally, Thailand led, followed by Vietnam and Singapore, searches for Cambodia increased tenfold. Heritage stay bookings ran at 4.8 times last year’s level, with Ajanta-Ellora up 4.9 times, while safari stay bookings between October and December rose 6.6 times year-on-year.

Southeast Asia accounted for more than half of international flight bookings on Scapia. Central Asia is also emerging, with searches for Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan reaching new highs. In Europe, searches for the UK, Germany and Czechia grew approximately 4.5 times, while Greece, Portugal, Poland and Denmark also attracted interest.