Offbeat

Off-the-beaten-path destinations in India saw a spike in tourists' interest in 2022, with places like Madhapur, Telangana; Rameswaram and Vellore in Tamil Nadu; Cherrapunji?, Meghalaya; and Pimpri-Chinchwad, Maharashtra; being the top-trending spots, according to data released by Airbnb on Monday. International travel saw a strong recovery in 2022, a trend that should continue to rise in 2023, found the round-up of key trends presented by Airbnb, with Indians searching for the most iconic cities around the world, and solo travel emerging as the most popular type of international travel as of the third quarter (October-December) of 2022, followed by couple and family travel. Benefiting local communities by travelling to off-the-beaten-path destinations will further help in tourism recovery, Airbnb stated, observing that domestically, Indians are exploring off-beat destinations in states like Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Meghalaya and Telangana. Dubai, London, Paris, Toronto and New York

Travellers' enthusiasm continued to grow after the Covid pandemic as there was about 140 per cent growth seen in non-urban night bookings on Airbnb during the second quarter of this calendar year. In India, the non-urban nights booked have increased by about 140 per cent when compared to the second quarter of 2022 (April-June) with the pre-pandemic second quarter of 2019, while non-urban long-term stays booked in India more than doubled, according to Airbnb internal data. According to the data, the number of destinations outside major cities have seen considerable growth in searches. Haldwani in Uttarakhand recorded a growth of about 330 per cent during the period under review, while Jibhi in Himachal Pradesh witnessed more than 270 per cent growth followed by Bir in Himachal Pradesh (more than 240 per cent growth) and Varkala in Kerala (more than 240 per cent growth), it added. On Airbnb, non-urban nights booked for long-term stays (over 28 days) more than doubled during the secon

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