MakeMyTrip Maps India’s Rising Travel Trends
Indians are travelling smarter: Choosing premium stays, hunting value, and exploring more than ever, reveals MakeMyTrip research.
By SOH Edit Team
Preliminary trends from the first six days of MakeMyTrip’s inaugural ‘Travel Ka Muhurat’ indicate that travellers are planning trips earlier, exploring a wider range of destinations, and showing sustained interest in premium stays—all while continuing to seek value through deals and offers.
Early bookings for year-end flights have doubled from a low base, serving as a leading indicator for accommodation demand, which typically follows in subsequent weeks. Premiumisation and category breadth have emerged as key highlights across segments.
Rajesh Magow, Co-Founder & Group CEO, MakeMyTrip, said: “It’s encouraging to see travellers engaging earlier in the planning cycle and making more considered choices. With Travel Ka Muhurat, our intent is to create a platform that benefits everyone in the ecosystem—travellers, partners, and the industry—by enabling better planning, more value, and more predictable demand. These early trends are a positive start toward that direction.”
Scale of Participation
The breadth of travel booked during the six-day period underscores widespread participation across domestic and international markets.
- Domestic: Travellers booked flights across India and 40,038 unique properties across 1,441 cities, including 603 properties sold for the first time in over a year.
- International: Bookings spanned 362 airports in 115 countries, serviced by 113 airlines. Accommodation bookings covered 7,911 unique properties across 834 cities in 109 countries.
Premium stays remained a defining theme, even as travellers displayed strong value consciousness.
- Domestic stays: 1 in 3 bookings was for a 4- or 5-star property, with the average stay length rising from 1.7 to 1.8 nights.
- International stays: 64.5% of bookings were in 4- and 5-star properties, with an average stay of 4.9 nights.
- Value-seeking behaviour: 96% of domestic hotel bookers availed discount coupons and offers from partner banks (HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank) and network partners (Visa, RuPay).
Top Travel Destinations
Domestic: Goa, Jaipur, Udaipur, and Lonavala emerged as the most booked leisure destinations.
International: Dubai, Pattaya, Bangkok, Phuket, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Bali, London, Krabi, and Langkawi led bookings.
Timed offers and limited inventory deals spurred strong engagement. The daily ‘Lightning Drops’—held between 6:00 PM and 9:00 PM—saw high participation as travellers sought to secure the best prices.
The campaign will continue through November, with weekly themes and partner offers designed to sustain engagement and drive continued participation.