Nearly 1 in 4 travellers took repeat festive trips, bookings for 2026 up 50 percent

Nearly one in four travellers booked more than one festive trip between October and December last year, while festive bookings for the corresponding period in 2026 are already running about "50 per cent ahead" of last year, according to a report released by backpacker hostel chain Zostel. The report, titled "Zostel Festive Travel Pulse 2026", said India's festive season is increasingly becoming a period of multiple short getaways rather than a single holiday, with "23 per cent" of Zostel travellers making repeat bookings during the October-December quarter last year. Nearly one in 10 travellers also stayed at two or more destinations during the same period, the report said, adding that bookings for November stays in 2026 are up "43 per cent" compared with the same point last year. According to the report, the average festive trip lasted two nights, with three in 10 travellers booking on the day of check-in. Around six in 10 made reservations within three days of arrival, while seven in 10 booked within a week. Fewer than one in 10 planned their trips more than a month in advance. Hampi, Gokarna, Varkala, Rishikesh and Jaipur emerged as the most-booked destinations for the 2026 festive season so far. "The fastest growth, however, lies in the Himalayas. Sangla has recorded three times last year's bookings, followed by Kalpa (2.9 times), Shangarh (2.8 times), Chitkul (2.6 times) and Shoja (2.6 times). Three of the five fastest-rising destinations are in Kinnaur," it added. Also, as per the report, more than half of the bookings were for solo travellers, while around 30 per cent involved pairs and one in seven were for groups of three or more. Women accounted for more than a fifth of all guests. Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune and Hyderabad were the leading source cities for festive travellers. The report also noted that the Dussehra and Gandhi Jayanti long weekend marked October's peak travel period last year, while November saw no single dominant surge, with every Saturday emerging as a peak day. The Christmas-New Year week was the busiest period of the quarter, with December 25 recording the highest number of check-ins, nearly 40 per cent above an average day. "The festive season is not one trip anymore. It is a season of trips. Three out of ten festive travellers at Zostel book on the same day they check in. Nobody is planning Diwali in August. They finish work, pick a place, and leave. They keep it short, two nights on average, which is exactly why they do it again," said Dharamveer Singh Chouhan, co-founder of Zostel and Zo World and group CEO of Zo World.