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Millennials, GenZs turn monsoon into travel season with value trips
"Being a traditionally low season for travel, Monsoon is the perfect time to embrace the great outdoors and experience travel at discounted rates with special offers from backwaters to wildlife safaris, biking trails, spiritual circuits to Ayurveda retreats," Thomas Cook (India) President and Country Head - Holidays, MICE, Visa, Rajeev Kale said in a statement.
Monsoon holidays offer something for every traveller across segments of families, millennials, working professionals, groups of friends, couples and 'frolleagues', he said.
According to Thomas Cook (India) data, monsoon holidays are gaining strong interest from young India's GenZ and Millennials, working professionals, couples, multigenerational families, a rising segment - 'frolleagues' (colleagues who double as friends).
"The monsoon season is opening up exciting opportunities for travellers to experience India at its lush and vibrant best. We're also seeing a shift beyond metros, with growing demand from tier II and III cities.
"Micro-breaks, mini-cations and weekend getaways are becoming the new norm, as travellers seek shorter, more frequent holidays," SOTC Travel president and country head - Holidays and Corporate Tours, S D Nandakumar said.
According to PeekABoo, Cleartrip's exclusive travel trend tracker, monsoon travel bookings has surged by 46 per cent this year with tier I cities leading the charge, contributing a massive 78 per cent of all travellers.
"Mostly 24-30-year-olds, escaping the grind with short 3-day getaways, or as they call it, a 70-hour monsoon break instead of a 70-hour work week," according to PeekABoo data.
Even with soaring demand, hotel rates are holding steady (just 3 per cent higher), and airfares are up 13 per cent, making travel still accessible, it added.
Most travellers prefer short hotel stays (2 nights), while flight bookings show longer getaways averaging 7 days, it stated.
Also, spontaneity is in (last-minute bookings up 14 per cent), so is early planning (up 10 per cent), the data added.
ixigo Group Co-CEO Rajnish Kumar also said the monsoon season is seeing an unexpected surge in demand this year.
"Several factors, including unrest in destinations like Kashmir and broader geopolitical concerns, prompted a section of travellers to postpone their summer holiday plans. However, this pent-up demand is now spilling over into the monsoon, with flight bookings rising by 25-30 per cent YoY to emerging destinations like Port Blair, Tirupati, Udaipur, Coimbatore, and Dehradun," he said.
Attractive monsoon sales by airlines and hotels are further fuelling this trend, offering value-driven deals and encouraging travellers to explore off-season getaways, he added.
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Artisans of Bengal by Antara Cruises lets you explore various textile weaving traditions and indigenous crafts, along with insights into erstwhile colonies like French Chandernagore and Danish the Brahmaputra River Cruise offers Silk & Rhinos – a 4-day expedition from Guwahati to Silghat. It includes a stop at Sualkuchi, the hub of Assamese silk production, where visitors can tour weaving workshops and witness the entire silk-making process - from cocoon and spinning to dyeing and hand-weaving exquisite mekhela chadars. The journey also features a stop in Silghat for a jeep safari in Kaziranga National Park, offering a chance to spot the majestic Bengal tigers and one-horned rhinos. Themed cruise options by Antara Cruises advertisementNot just an old-gen activityDriving the cruise culture in India are youngsters. 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Unlike buying houses and cars, travel does not involve a massive financial experts believe that it is also the all-inclusive nature of cruises that resonates with families, couples and young professionals who look for stress-free vacations. Nandakumar of SOTC Travels also admits to a growing interest from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.'To meet this demand, we've curated regional cruise tours aligning with regional festivals (regional tour managers speaking the local language and the comfort of local home food), bringing both comfort and cultural connection onboard,' he tells India anniversaries and family reunions are moving to cruises India's cruise story unfolds, the government is also obviously pushing for it with the Cruise Bharat Mission (announced in September 2024) and Maritime India Vision vision is to make India a significant player in the global cruise market, both for ocean and river cruises.'Indian cruise market has the potential to grow by 8X over the next decade, driven by rising demand and disposable incomes,' says a PIB FY 2023-24, the number of cruise passengers was 4.71 lakhs. The government aims to double cruise passenger traffic to over 1 million by Indian middle class is no longer watching cruises from afar - it's on board, and the journey has just begun.- EndsTune InMust Watch
