This complied Paytm Travel Trends Report, based on a detailed study of travel bookings done in 2018, gives you an insight into everything you need to know – from user behaviour, most-travelled destinations, fastest growing destinations to budget-friendly destinations, best time to fly and the most searched international destinations.
Explore what we’ve found for you!
The Most Travelled Destinations: Metro cities broke the charts as the most preferred destinations for all 3 modes of travel. While Bengaluru was the most travelled destination by bus, Delhi was the most travelled destination by flights and trains. The other destinations that grabbed a place in this list for all 3 modes of travel are Hyderabad, Pune, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, etc.
Fastest Growing Destinations: Tier II & Tier III towns account for 60% of growth for all 3 modes of travel. The destinations to look out for are Hanumangarh and Kota in Rajasthan, Hubli in Karnataka, Tikamgarh in Madhya Pradesh, etc.
Most travelled Udan Routes – Udan (Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik) Scheme, launched in 2017, gives wings to tourism at places that remain unexplored. The Scheme emphasises on enhancing flight services to hilly and remote areas. The most-travelled Udan routes are Hyderabad to Nanded, Delhi to Bikaner, Mumbai to Nanded, Mumbai to Porbandar, Hyderabad to Vidyanagar, etc.
Budget-friendly destinations – Travellers seek low fares, and fare has a key role in determining travel insights. We took an interesting approach to study the fare trends, and find out about destinations that don’t burn a hole in the pockets. While you can fly for less than Rs. 2000, you can travel by bus for less than Rs. 150, and take a train for less than Rs. 100. The cheapest flight route is Chennai to Cuddapah; for trains, it’s Chandigarh to Ludhiana and for bus, it’s Surendranagar to Ahmedabad.
How about last-minute bookings? Bus travellers opt for last-minute bookings due to multiple options and availability of tickets. Train travellers on an average book their tickets more than 1 month in advance, while there are some travellers who opt for last-minute booking with Tatkal facility. This makes the average booking period about 5 days prior to the journey. Flights travellers book their tickets about 13 days in advance, to avoid last-minute surge in fares.
When is the best time to fly? To save those extra bucks, book your flight ticket 28 days in advance! Also, book your tickets for Tuesday to get the best fares.
App or desktop? Bookings through app continue to dominate, as about 90%+ users prefer app over desktop.
Most searched international destinations: Planning a trip to your dream destination? Dubai, Bangkok and Singapore continue to be the most-searched. Across Europe, London was the most searched destination in 2018.
The aforementioned numbers are subjective to the year, modes of travel, travel sector, travellers, etc.
