Rising trend of weekend-long travel and staycation

New Delhi [India], Aug 9 (ANI): Travelling has become a rising trend in recent years, and our hectic lifestyles hasn't stopped the trend, but has in fact, led to a rise in multiple short breaks. Hotels and travel portals have identified this trend too. For example, the Independence Day-long weekend will allow travellers to bag lucrative deals both for short getaways and within the cities for staycations. Ritesh Agarwal, Founder and CEO, OYO said, "For the upcoming long weekend around Independence Day, we have seen a strong spike in bookings for both leisure and non-leisure destinations. Goa, Jaipur, Munnar, Puri and Vishakhapatnam have demonstrated the highest growth in bookings. Bookings for Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata and Hyderabad have also grown strongly, indicating that many city-dwellers are choosing a staycation for their weekend break." Ritesh elaborated, "Same-city bookings i.e, booking made by the traveller for the same city as the one they reside in, have jumped by 25% for metro cities. The staycation trend is picking up among travellers and is more popular among millennials who prefer taking a break by looking for accessible and good-quality stay options rather than brave traffic and last-minute travel planning. Hike in last-minute airfares is another reason why city-based customers are choosing to stay outside home but within the city itself." Lately, travel behaviour has undergone a paradigm shift. People are now booking hotels beyond planned leisure or corporate travel. Vidushi Ramanujan, a Delhi resident studying in Mumbai,says "I am going overseas for higher studies and my girlfriends and I were trying to plan a long weekend getaway to Uttarkhand. But they are busy with jobs, and rather than get into a stressful, last-minute multi-modal trip requiring train and bus bookings, we finally decided to book a place in Delhi and just chill for a few days, breaking away from the demands of everyday life, while being in the same city." Like Vidushi, modern travelers prefer to enjoy their weekend long breaks within the city, in branded affordable hotels that offer assured amenities like hygienic rooms, AC, free WiFi and breakfast. According to OYO, 61 percent of all its bookings in 2016 were made in the 24 hours prior to check-in.(ANI)