Indians Ask for Forgiveness as Spiritual Travel Search Surges

Spiritual destinations are stealing the show in India's travel market with these destinations recording a 97 per cent surge in searches in the last two years, according to a research by online travel aggregator MakeMyTrip.

Searches for Ayodhya grew 585 per cent, Ujjain by 359 per cent and Badrinath by 343 per cent in 2023 over the previous year, said the report launched Make My Trip said.  Tier-2 and tier-3 cities are embracing spiritual journeys, it added.

The report also added that people taking more than three trips per year has grown by 25 per cent in 2023 as compared to 2019.

On the international front, 30 per cent of all foreign travel searches from India are for Dubai, Bangkok and Singapore, while London, Toronto and New York are the most searched long-haul destinations.

Searches for emerging international destinations grew by multi-fold in 2023 and the hot favourites include Hong Kong, Almaty, Paro, Baku, Da Nang and Tbilisi.

Family travel bookings surged by 64 percent in 2023 as compared to 2022, followed by solo travel booking growth of 23 per cent.

Delhi NCR and Goa are the most searched destination from all six metros. Delhi has the highest share in terms of searches in 2023 at 11.4 per cent, followed by Mumbai at 7.2 per cent, Bengaluru at 5.4 per cent, and Goa at 5.3 per cent.