According to new data released by digital travel company Booking.com, people have been creating many travel wish lists over the last few months on the platform. (Source: Getty/Thinkstock)
In these challenging times, travelling has definitely taken a pause. Around the world as countries stay in lockdown mode, wanderers and explorers take a moment, too. But, in no way does that go on to suggest that the idea of travelling and visiting new places is dead; it is perhaps in limbo at the moment, with travellers still dreaming about the glorious possibility of undertaking a journey soon.
According to new data released by digital travel company Booking.com, people have been creating many travel wish lists over the last few months on the platform. In fact, the focus of travel has shifted closer home for Indians, with in-country stays featuring in nearly 67 per cent of all those wish-listed by Indians, a jump from the same time last year, when domestic properties accounted for 48 per cent of those wish-listed. It should be noted that wish lists refer to the number of times users click the heart button on a particular property on the site.
Since the beginning of March, the top wish-listed domestic destinations for Indians have been Mumbai, Goa, New Delhi, Lonavala and Bengaluru. This goes on to suggest that people have been dreaming about both sunshine and beaches, and the charm of metropolitan cities.
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When it comes to international travel, people have wish-listed destinations like Dubai, Bali, Bangkok, Istanbul and London, making them the top five destinations, in that order, followed by Seminyak, North Male Atoll and Singapore.
In terms of global travel, New Delhi, Mumbai, Calangute (Goa), Jaipur and Bengaluru are the top five destinations in India with the most wish-listings during the March and April 2020 period.
Commenting on the same, Ritu Mehrotra, Country Manager, India, Sri Lanka and Maldives at Booking.com, said: “These are unprecedented and challenging times in which safety remains the top priority. We also know that in such times, dreaming about experiencing the world again has immense power to fire our imaginations and keep spirits high. It’s amazing to see the array of different travel experiences our customers have been busy dreaming about while they wait for the opportunity to travel again.”