57 per cent Indians planning vacation for 2021: Survey

BENGALURU: The year 2020 might have played spoiltsport to travel plans for many, but that isn’t stopping people from making plans for 2021. ZestMoney, an AI-driven EMI financing and ‘Buy Now Pay Later’ platform, released the findings from a survey conducted to understand how Indians are shaping up their travel plans for the coming year. The survey was conducted with a sample of 4,600 respondents across metros and Tier II/III cities in India.

The survey reveals that while over 75 per cent respondents did not take a vacation in the last three months, over 57 per cent are planning their next leisure travel in early 2021. An increasing number of people want to opt for domestic travel. Within India, Goa (53.1 per cent), followed by Kerala (32.9 per cent) and Shimla (31.4 per cent) ranked high on the travel bucket-list. Ladakh, Kashmir, Jaipur, Agra and Mysuru were the other popular destinations.

With the pandemic taking a hit on finances, travellers have slashed their discretionary spends, including those on leisure activities. Over 44 per cent believed that their holiday and travel budgets have been impacted. Commenting on the trend, Lizzie Chapman, CEO & co-founder at ZestMoney said, “The pandemic had halted leisure travel for many travel enthusiasts over the past year as they restrained their discretionary spends and focussed on savings.

With the phased reopening across cities, consumers are gradually planning their vacations for the coming year. We have seen a gradual uptick for the category with staycations, tour packages and domestic air travel driving the demand. We are witnessing a 50 per cent month-on- month growth in customers opting for the Pay Later solution for the travel vertical on the platform,” added Chapman.