India's travel boom broadens in 2025 as pilgrimage, festivals and tier-2 cities take centre stage: Paytm

India's appetite for travel continued to deepen and diversify in 2025, driven by a surge in spiritual journeys, festival-linked trips, entertainment tourism and growing demand from Tier-two cities, according to Paytm’s latest travel recap of the year gone by.

One97 Communications Limited (OCL), the company behind the Paytm brand, said its platform recorded sustained growth across spiritual, cultural, leisure and impulse travel categories, underscoring rising aspirations and a renewed willingness among Indians to travel more frequently.

Spiritual tourism emerged as one of the strongest growth engines during the year. The Kumbh Mela proved to be a defining event, with bookings to Prayagraj increasing more than threefold during January and February. This marked a sharp acceleration from 2024, when pilgrimage destinations such as Ayodhya, Shirdi and Varanasi had already seen close to 50 percent year-on-year growth. In 2025, searches for Ayodhya, Varanasi and Tirupati climbed 34 percent, further cementing faith-based travel as a mainstream trend.

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Festival calendars continued to shape travel behaviour at scale. During Chhath Puja, flight bookings to Patna rose by 25 percent, reflecting one of the country’s largest annual migration movements. Similar spikes had been observed in previous years around major festivals such as Holi, highlighting the enduring role of cultural occasions in driving seasonal travel demand.

The data also revealed increasingly spontaneous travel habits. Bookings on the platform jumped 15 percent immediately after salary credits, pointing to a close link between disposable income cycles and travel decisions.

Entertainment tourism gained fresh momentum in 2025, with concerts acting as key travel triggers. Cities such as Mumbai and Bengaluru saw higher inbound demand as live events prompted short-duration trips, extending a trend that began in 2024 when concert-led travel grew by over 40 percent, particularly among younger travellers.

Leisure destinations remained resilient. Srinagar stood out as a major comeback story, registering record bookings during the year, while Goa continued to attract higher traveller volumes than in 2024, maintaining its position as India’s most popular holiday destination.

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A notable shift was the expansion of travel beyond major metros. Tier-2 cities including Indore, Lucknow, Patna, Surat and Kochi recorded a meaningful rise in inbound traffic, signalling deeper digital adoption and growing travel aspirations across regional India.

Commenting on the findings, a Paytm spokesperson said, “Travel trends in 2025 reinforce patterns that have been steadily strengthening over recent years. From the continued rise of spiritual and festival-led travel to greater spontaneity, event-driven trips and growing demand from Tier-2 cities, users continue to place their trust in Paytm Travel. We remain focused on building a seamless, reliable and scalable travel ecosystem that supports India’s evolving mobility needs.”

The company recently rolled out Paytm Checkin, an AI-powered travel app that offers personalised recommendations and conversational booking across flights, trains, buses and metro services on a single platform. Paytm Checkin provides zero convenience fees, low-cost flight cancellations, fast refunds and a subscription-based Travel Pass that includes added benefits such as travel insurance and free cancellations.

With features such as real-time flight updates, Ticket Assure for trains and Paytm Assured for buses, the platform aims to strengthen reliability and transparency while supporting India’s fast-evolving travel landscape.