Once considered a lean season for holidays, the rainy months are now emerging as a preferred travel window, with travellers seeking immersive, nature-led and offbeat experiences. Cleartrip’s Peekaboo Trends Tracker shows that monsoon travel is experiencing significant YoY growth across categories, with hotel bookings up over 54% and bus bookings surging by 140%.
“We are now in an Age of Experience, where travel is driven by intent rather than itineraries, and our data this monsoon makes that unmistakably clear. The Indian traveller is not waiting for the perfect season or the obvious destination. They are finding their own”, said Pallavi Saxena, Chief Marketing and Revenue Officer, Cleartrip.
- Northeast Leads Booking Growth
Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh recorded the highest growth among all destinations tracked this season, with flight bookings up 62% and hotel bookings increased over 90% year-on-year.
- Hotel bookings increased by over 65% in Shillong and over 60% in Guwahati.
- Flight bookings increased by over 70% for Itanagar and over 50% for Jorhat and Imphal.
The data indicates that demand for the Northeast, which first picked up during the summer travel season, has been sustained through the monsoon months, making it the most consistently strong-performing region in this year’s booking data.
- Hill Destinations See Strong Hotel Demand
Hill destinations experienced significant growth in hotel bookings this year.
- Wayanad saw an increase of over 160%
- Alleppey grew by more than 145%.
- Kodaikanal and Ooty reported sharp increases in hotel bookings, each exceeding 70%.
- Other Destinations Recording Healthy Growth
Beyond the Northeast and hill circuits, the following destinations recorded healthy increases in hotel bookings:
- Hotel bookings in Goa, Pondicherry, Visakhapatnam and Udaipur top the list, growing by over 110%, 104%, 85% and 50% respectively.
- Gen Z Lean Towards Unconventional Destinations & Trains as Top Mode of Travel
- Tajikistan, which recorded the highest growth of over 245% year-on-year
- Followed by Lakshadweep, over 80%
- Muscat and the Philippines (70%), Hubli and Leh over 65% and Tashkent over 54%.
- Train travel data shows Gen Z as the largest age group among train travellers, at 45% of bookings, followed by Millennials at 28%.
This trend aligns with a broader shift in travel behaviour, particularly among Gen Z travellers, who are increasingly prioritising experiential and offbeat travel over conventional, well-established circuits.
- Booking Behaviour: Solo Travel and Advance Planning Dominate – Flight bookings up by 65% and group bookings by over 25% compared to last year’s monsoon.
- Hotels: Mid-Range Category Gains Share, Short Stays Dominate (Hotel bookings grew by 53.90% year-on-year)
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