Summer vacations are a time to relax with family members and escape the daily grind of work and school. To get an insight into what is appealing to Indian families this summer, a new report by Booking.com found that out of 1,800 respondents, 56 per cent ranked spending quality time as the main motivator for travelling this year, followed by discovering new places (47 per cent) and finding time to relax (18 per cent).
The top five domestic destinations for this summer were Ayodhya, Mahabaleshwar, the state of Goa, Chakrata and Vrindavan. These search results show how popular spiritual travel has become for Indian tourists. Accommodations are seeing an 18 per cent increase while flight searches are seeing an increase of 29 per cent in April 2024 as compared to the same time last year.
For international destinations, Sydney, Osaka, Split, Fira and Marbella topped search results for families. Another Booking.com report called "Family Travel Flight Search Data" also revealed a 36 per cent increase in Indian families looking to travel to Europe this year, with a notable increase in travel to the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain and Ireland followed by Asia (35 per cent) and North America (17 per cent).
Furthermore, the report also found that 65 per cent of Indian families say they are inspired to travel to try the food seen in a show or movie, highlighting the influence of popular media on travel choices. Comfort is also a top priority with 81 per cent of Indian families citing air conditioning as the most important amenity when booking a place to stay.