Thomas Cook has shared a Holiday Report for the year - surveying Indian consumers to assess the tourism trends - which showed that as many as 84 percent of the respondents said they plan to increase their travel spends by 20-50 percent in 2025, with more than half of them planning longer holidays.
More Indians, close to 75 percent are choosing experiential travel, or bucket list items like Northern Lights in Norway, or Japan cherry blossoms, said the survey. The report also found a preference for safaris, self-drives, and outdoor adventures during travel. The desire for a gastronomical experience and event tourism for music concerts or sporting events also found favour among 26 percent and 22 percent respondents, respectively.
Rajeev Kale, President & Country Head – Holidays, MICE, Visa, Thomas Cook (India) said the trend is a signal of a "bold, experience-first traveller mind-set."
The survey also found an emerging trend of using travel to deepen family connections, with an increase in travel focused on mother-daughter trips and holidays with sibling or cousins.
"Indians are not only travelling more, but also increasing spends - choosing depth, discovery and emotion over traditional sightseeing tours," said Rajeev Kale.
The survey by Thomas Cook and its group company SOTC Travel revealed that 85 percent of the respondents plan to increase their holidays from two per year to 4-6 trips annually. Adding to this trend was the finding that 47 percent of the respondents said they intend to leverage long weekends and public holidays for short getaways. Equally, the survey found a strong shift towards longer trips, with 54 percent respondents "preferring longer holidays by extending for an additional 5-10 days, to create holidays of an average of 8-15 days," said the survey.
The trend falls in line with the pattern of more budgets for gastronomy, experiences and shopping during holidays, as has been seen in recent past, said Thomas Cook's survey.
SD Nandakumar, President & Country Head - Holidays & Corporate Tours - SOTC Travel said Indians are now moving away from rushed itineraries. "Slow travel is seeing an uptick, with river and ocean cruises and sustainable rail journeys offering unique opportunities for exploration. Additionally, spiritual/pilgrimage tourism is on the rise – with our ‘darshans’ portfolio coupled with adventure tourism is gaining popularity – interestingly from young India’s millennials and GenZ," Nandakumar added.
Family travel still remains the major preference for Indians, showed the survey. "Travelling together remains the preferred mode, with 90% opting for company. Multi-generational families (65%) lead the chart, followed by couples (60%) and a rising segment - ‘frolleagues’ (colleagues who double as friends) at 28%," showed the survey with solo travel making up for only 10 percent.
The survey also found that over 36 percent respondents are opting for premium experiences like transport via super cars, luxury cruise holidays, private island dining, boutique hotels or chalets, heritage properties, and even glacier landings.
Europe remains the most-preferred destination for Indians for holiday, chosen by 50 percent respondents, followed by short-haul destinations in South-east Asia, and the main cities in UAE. Domestically, the hills were the preferred choice of 55 percent respondents, followed by the North-East, at 25 percent.
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