Indians switch to spontaneous travelling

The online survey threw a light on how the Indian travellers are overcoming monotony in their busy lives through short trips

As youngsters in India are increasingly resorting to short weekend trips, a survey by OYO, an Indian hotel brand that owns, operates and aggregates standardised hotel rooms, shows that growing number of Indians are switching to spontaneous travel plans throughout the year.

Gone are the days when people in India planned holidays during vacations, months or days in advance. The travel trends are changing and more and more people are resorting to spontaneous travelling in the country.

According to the reports of a recent survey conducted by OYO, also known as Oyo Rooms, an Indian hotel brand that owns, operates and aggregates standardised hotel rooms, Indians no longer look for a special occasion or holiday to travel, and prefer spontaneous travelling.

The survey was conducted with approximately 800 respondents in 180 cities including Asansol, Bhatinda, Haflong, Imphal, Hoshiarpur, Palakkad, Ranchi, Sambalpur, Sahranpur and Warangal, among others. Every third respondent preferred to spend their next vacation on a hill-station, but Goa was the most popular travel destination within the country. While seven pc of the respondents prefer to travel to pilgrimage destinations, several others showed interest in leisure travel through a convenient transportation option.

Most of the people prefer travelling impetuously;on the other hand, couples were most likely to travel on special occasions like birthdays and anniversaries.

The online survey threw a light on how the Indian travellers are now getting used to overcoming monotony in their busy lives through short trips using convenient transport options.

“We often go on one or two days trips with friends over the weekends from Delhi to Agra or Jaipur for instance. It breaks the routine and refreshes our minds, plus we get to spend some time with each other,” says Anshul Shah, a resident of south-west Delhi.

83 pc of the people revealed that they do not worry about the distance of the travel, suggesting that logistics are no longer seen as a barrier and travellers now like to go with the flow.

“This survey has helped us identify key travel drivers for different customer sets and their needs. For example, we inferred that people prefer to travel to Kerala and Manali to combat evils of stress, traffic and pollution. Also, without exception, all groups surveyed have displayed an overwhelming preference for natural and serene retreats; highlighting that we travel to escape our hyper-connected existence,” said Kavikrut, chief growth officer, OYO.