India’s Treasure Trove of Cultural Travel 2022 report shows that Srinagar posted 3.5 times growth in terms of booking over the past year, becoming the top cultural destination in 2022
Covid-19 forced Indians to explore domestic destinations. As a result, domestic travel has witnessed its biggest boom in the past two years. Global travel technology company, Oyo, recently published its India’s Treasure Trove of Cultural Travel 2022 report. The report shows that Srinagar posted 3.5 times growth in terms of booking over the past year, becoming the top cultural destination in 2022.
Among the list of top pilgrimage destinations released by Oyo were: Varanasi, Shirdi, Amritsar, and Tirupati. Besides Srinagar, Pahalgam, and Jammu in J&K ranked among the top 5 cultural destinations in India, reported ETTravelWorld.
Oyo’s booking data analysed between January to April 2022, show that Srinagar, Pahalgam, Bodhgaya, Shirdi, and Jammu were among India’s top 5 cultural destinations in order of ranking.
The survey also highlighted the fact that around 7 per cent visitors tended to make a stop at a famous local pilgrimage site. This meant that pilgrimage destinations have the potential to attract other destination-bound travellers, opening up vast opportunities for small local businesses
Within the culture-travel category, Oyo’s data highlighted the rising consumer interest in pilgrimage and heritage destinations and Varanasi topped the charts as the most popular pilgrimage destination in India in 2022. This was followed by Tirupati, Puri, Amritsar, and Shirdi. The Index also highlighted interest of visitors to Vaishno Devi this summer.
As for heritage sites, with 25 per cent votes each, Ajanta & Ellora caves in Aurangabad and Taj Mahal in Agra tied for the top spot. Hampi, Khajurao, and Mahabalipuram took up the balance of the top 5 heritage sites.
Commenting on the rise in cultural tourism, Shreerang Godbole, SVP – Product & Chief Service Officer – Oyo, said, “Cultural tourism has always been a huge contributor to India’s tourism economy. With an increase in domestic travel across India, people are looking forward to exploring rich cultural destinations over the past few years. We’re seeing many more young people opting for hidden gems, historical destinations, holy sites, and spiritual or wellness destinations. Varanasi, Shirdi, Rajasthan, and Kerala have consistently shown up as top booked cities for this purpose, since 2021. As India’s appetite for cultural and spiritual travel strengthens, we continually support locally run hotels and homeowners to create self-employment opportunities while boosting the local economy. Like we did with our local homestays initiative in Kevadia and Pahalgam in J&K. We are also offering consumers flexible cancellation and modification of bookings, Pay at Hotel option to enable the higher influx of tourists across such prominent destinations.”
The survey also highlighted the fact that around 7 per cent visitors tended to make a stop at a famous local pilgrimage site. This meant that pilgrimage destinations have the potential to attract other destination-bound travellers, opening up vast opportunities for small local businesses.
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