Summer vacation is all set to enter in a full gear, whether it is schools closing for holidays, university semester breaks beginning, or employees finally using the leaves they have been saving up. But summer travel is far from one-dimensional because everyone looks for a different kind of escape. Some prefer cooler weather in the hills, while other gravitate towards ‘happening’ cultural destinations, delicious food experiences, or laid-back tropical beach holidays.
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Long story short, there are no rules to how you choose to spend your summer, whether it is getting cosy in your favourite hoodie at a hill station or enjoying fresh seafood by the beach. The ball is in your court, you just need to decide which kind of experience you want your vacation to offer.
To narrow down which destinations are seeing a surge in interest, HT Lifestyle spoke with Santosh Kumar, regional manager, South Asia at Booking.com, who observed how travellers are slowing down. “Travellers are slowing down; spending longer in one place, gravitating towards quieter, more immersive pursuits, and prioritising cultural depth over fast-paced itineraries,” he said.
Travel is becoming more intentional. Nowadays people value experiences as much as visiting landmarks. So tourists want to understand the local culture, the food, tradition and everyday energy, and accordingly they are planning their itinerary for a cultural exploration over a fast-paced checklist. And slower destinations also suggest that tourists now are no longer trying to cover 5 different places in 6 days, they stay in one place and explore all the aspects slowly, from local street food to the upmarket cafes.
Which is why Santosh reiterated that ‘offbeat’ travel today is less about where you go and more about how personally relevant the journey feels.
Santosh suggested these destinations based on different travel moods, with recommendations drawn from internal trends observed at Booking.com. He also highlighted important spots travellers can add to their itinerary, along with cultural experiences and local delicacies worth including on their bucket list:
