In some interesting data shared by Ritesh Agarwal, CEO of OYO Rooms, it seems like Indians preferred underrated hill stations and spiritual destinations to celebrate the new year this season. He took to X (formerly Twitter) to share some insights on this with data. Scroll on to learn more about it.
Underdog Hill Stations Emerge As Top Preference Of Vacationers
OYO Rooms’s founder and CEO, Ritesh Agarwal shared that hill stations emerged as some of the most-booked spots during the new year. Surprisingly, neither Manali nor any popular hill station claimed the top spot. They noted a rather impressive surge in demand for “underdogs” like Coorg and Mussoorie.
According to Ritesh’s post, Coorg witnessed a massive 28x surge in bookings this new year. Furthermore, Mussoorie, which he believes is a “surprise contender”, saw a 10x rise in bookings. So, which hill station secured the top spot? Ritesh explained that Srinagar, which is now a 365-day destination, and Dehradun were the most booked hill stations this season.
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Eat, Pray, Love For Indians On New Year
In another tweet, Ritesh Agarwal also shared that besides hill stations, Indians chose to spend their new year at spiritual destinations. He observed a notable surge in bookings to destinations like Shirdi, Ajmer, and Varanasi. In the data shared, Shirdi saw a whopping 940% rise in bookings, while Ajmer saw a 761% surge in bookings this season, as compared to last year.
Varanasi was the most popular spiritual travel destination during this season with 12,841 bookings. Ritesh highlighted that Ayodhya was the new entrant to the list. Also, seeing the “strong booking trends”, he expects Ayodhya to top the charts in January, especially keeping in mind the upcoming Pran Pratishtha anniversary.
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So, where did you travel to during the new year celebration? Let us know in the comments.
Cover Image Courtesy: X/@riteshagar & Wikimedia Commons
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