Mumbai, Dec 26: 2025 was a standout year for travel in India, shaped by a packed calendar of cultural events, concerts, and large-scale religious gatherings, along with easier visa norms that sustained travel intent through the year. ixigo, India’s leading AI-based travel platform, revealed its “The Great Indian Travel Index 2025”, capturing how India travelled across flights, trains, and buses. The data reveals strong YoY momentum in 2025, with overall searches for flight up by 45%, train growing by 20%, and bus rising by 42% as compared to 2024.
OTT-Inspired Travel Fuels a Northeast Boom
India’s binge-worthy OTT hits are doing more than driving viewership – they’re putting the Northeast firmly on the travel map. Popular shows like The Family Man (Season 3), Paatal Lok (Season 2) and Delhi Crime (Season 3) showcased the region’s lush landscapes, layered cultures and raw, unfiltered settings, sparking fresh curiosity around lesser-explored destinations. This on-screen spotlight translated into real-world travel demand in 2025, with ixigo witnessing strong YoY growth in flight bookings to key Northeastern cities: Dimapur (+77%), Agartala (+48%), Guwahati and Imphal (+44% each), and Itanagar (+42%).
Mindful Miles: How Gen Z Fuelled India’s Spiritual Travel Boom
In 2025, spiritual travel was at the centre of India’s travel story, powered by Gen Z’s growing interest in meaning-led journeys and landmark gatherings such as the Maha Kumbh. The event triggered a sharp surge in travel to Prayagraj, with Gen Z bus bookings climbing almost 20x year-on-year. Reflecting the demand peak, the most expensive domestic flight booked on ixigo in 2025 was a Mumbai-Prayagraj ticket priced at ₹92,644 during the Kumbh period.
Pilgrimage destinations witnessed strong YoY growth in flight bookings, led by Varanasi (+134%) and Tirupati (+102%), followed by Prayagraj (+80%), Ayodhya (+54%), Shirdi (+26%), and Amritsar (+24%). Bus travel amplified this trend, with bookings rising sharply to Varanasi (+111%), Mathura (+99%), Ayodhya (+86%), Rishikesh (+81%), Haridwar (+73%), Amritsar (+61%), and Gaya (+55%). Train bookings also grew steadily to destinations such as Rishikesh (+43%), Prayagraj (+35%), Gaya (+28%), Dwarka (+26%), Mathura (+26%), and Ujjain (+25%).
Hello Japan, Annyeong Korea: East Asia Takes Centre Stage in 2025
Indian travellers expanded their horizons in 2025, with a clear shift towards newer international destinations. East and Southeast Asia emerged as standout favourites, led by Japan (+63%), South Korea (+61%), Vietnam (+57%), and Thailand (+53%), reflecting growing interest in culture-rich, experience-led travel. Traditional favourites continued to hold steady, with Sri Lanka (+42%) and Indonesia (+36%) remaining popular choices.
Beyond Asia, the Middle East and other emerging destinations also saw strong momentum, driven by Oman (+71%), Kenya (+65%), Kazakhstan (+54%), the UAE (+52%), Uzbekistan (+49%), and Qatar (+45%), signalling Indians’ increasing appetite for offbeat global getaways.
Leisure Travel Diversifies: Hills Took the Lead, Coasts Stayed in Play
Hill destinations remained popular in 2025, with Dehradun (+64%) and Srinagar (+58%) leading on flights, Srinagar doubling YoY on ixigo trains & ConfirmTkt, and Dehradun (+99%), Shimla (+29%), and Manali (+17%) on AbhiBus. Coastal getaways followed closely, driving YoY demand on ixigo flights led by Port Blair (+81%), Coimbatore (+47%), and Goa (+27%).
One of the interesting behavioural shifts in 2025 was the reimagining of the monsoon season, not as a travel lull, but as a leisure opportunity. Monsoon travel demand grew 35-40% YoY across modes, driven by nature-led and short-haul getaways. Destinations such as Lonavala, Munnar, Mahabaleshwar and Udaipur saw strong traction, while Port Blair and Goa continued to attract travellers looking to combine off-season pricing with fewer crowds.
Speaking on the findings, Aloke Bajpai, Group CEO, and Rajnish Kumar, Group Co-CEO, ixigo, said, “What truly stood out in The Great Indian Travel Index 2025 was the scale and diversity of travel demand across the country. Faith-led travel emerged as a powerful driver, with destinations like Varanasi alone witnessing nearly 147 million visits in 2025. At the same time, rising disposable incomes and better connectivity are helping expand the travel ecosystem beyond existing travellers. Over 50% of new flight bookers coming from our NBU app users are first-time flyers, allowing us to continue adding new travellers to the market.
We’re also seeing Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities increasingly shape India’s travel narrative. Cities such as Rishikesh, Indore, Nagpur, Bhopal, Lucknow, and Assam are driving strong demand across flights, trains, and buses, with several metro-to-emerging city bus routes experiencing YoY growth of nearly 80%. Together, these trends reflect how travel in India is deeply rooted in culture, belief, and aspiration, cutting across age groups, geographies, and travel modes.”