This winter, Indians prefer domestic locations for holidays

MUMBAI: Indians are preferring domestic destinations over international ones for this winter vacations, as 88 per cent have booked for travel to popular spots across the country, according to findings by online travel company MakeMyTrip.

More people (88 per cent) tend to be travelling to domestic locations compared to international (12 per cent) destinations, according to Christmas and New Year travel trends by MakeMyTrip.

This analysis is based on actual bookings made by customers from January-November 2015, for Christmas and New Year weekends.

However, the data found that people are spending 7.5 times more on their international holidays compared to the domestic ones during this festive season.

The data also revealed that 44 per cent of customers made their travel plans 1-2 months in advance while nearly half of the travellers (49 per cent) made their bookings over two months in advance.

Customers have booked flights well in advance compared to hotels, it added.

"We also observed that people have made their holiday and travel plans well in advance. According to our study, 44 per cent of the customers made their travel plans 1-2 months in advance while nearly half of the travellers (49 per cent) made their bookings over two months in advance," MakeMyTrip Chief Business Officer, Holidays, Ranjeet Oak said.

This year, beach destinations seem to be the flavour. While, Goa, Andamans and Kerala are the popular domestic holiday destinations, Thailand, Bali, Colombo are the top international ones followed by Dubai and Singapore.

Interestingly, Indians have also shown interest in going to locations where it snows during winters like Kashmir and those in Europe specially Paris, London and Amsterdam.