Indians plan to travel this Diwali; prefer beaches over the mountains as their holiday destination

New Delhi, 23 October 2019: OYO Hotels and Homes, India and South Asia’s largest and world’s second-largest and fastest-growing chain of hotels, homes, living, and workspaces, is witnessing unique booking trends this Diwali with Indians opting to travel instead of celebrating the festival traditionally at home.

Commenting on the booking trends, Gaurav Ajmera, Chief Operating Officer, India & South Asia, OYO Hotels & Homes, said, “It is interesting to see how booking trends change every year with changing consumer needs. With the festive season around the corner, we are witnessing consumers stepping out of the city for a memorable time with loved ones whether it’s Goa or neighboring towns. Moreover, with consumer focused brands running creative campaigns and offering attractive services at great discounts during this time, we see a significant increase in bookings within the hospitality and tourism industry. We are expecting the bookings to increase manifold with large traction coming in from last-minute bookings.”

Beaches over Mountain: A sneak peek into the booking data for the Diwali week, 25th October to 31st October, 2019, shows people are heading to the land of beaches, Goa, this year followed by metro cities Delhi and Bangalore. Most bookings for Goa have come from Pune, Bangalore and Ahmedabad. In fact, with winters approaching, Indians are preferring beaches over mountains this year with most bookings witnessed for Goa, Mumbai, Puducherry and Vishakapatnam over scenic beauties like Ooty, Lonavala, Mussoorie, Nainital, Manali, Darjeeling, Mount-Abu.

Staycation: Delhi and Bangalore witnessed most bookings from within the city showcasing how people are opting to relax this Diwali week, more popularly known as Staycation, within their city during or post the festivities.

Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities - Popular choices: A lot of bookings were witnessed for non-metro cities with people planning to visit destinations with historical and cultural significance during the festive season. Most Delhiites booked for Amritsar, Jaipur and Lucknow whereas Mumbaikars plan to visit Pune, Mahabaleshwar and Lonavala. People from Bangalore, on the other hand, are planning for Mysore, Ooty, Coorg, Mangalore, Kochi and Puducherry.

The company also saw maximum bookings by couples for the Diwali period closely followed by family outings. Also, app bookings were 17 times of desktop showcasing the growing preference of Indians to use an app to make bookings against other channels.

About OYO Hotels & Homes:

Opening its doors in 2013, OYO Hotels & Homes is the world’s second-largest chain of hotels, homes, managed living and workspaces. The portfolio combines fully operated real estate comprising of more than 35,000 hotels and 125,000 vacation homes, and over 1.2 million rooms. Additionally, OYO along with

Vacation Homes categories managed by the company under OYO Homes, Belvilla, Danland, Dancenter along with Germany-based Traum-Ferienwohnungen brands can be found in more than 800 cities in 80 countries, including the U.S., Europe, U.K., India, Malaysia, Middle East, Indonesia, Philippines, and Japan. The company also has a play in the housing rental business and co-working business in select countries. For more information, log onto https://www.oyorooms.com/