India's festive season, from Navratri and Durga Puja through Diwali to Christmas and New Year, is turning into the country's second big holiday season. Booking data released by travel platforms over the past week shows Indians are taking more trips, staying for shorter periods, booking later, and spending more on where they stay.
Here is what reports from Zostel, Scapia and Yatra reveal about how India is travelling in the last quarter of 2026, and what it means if you have not booked yet.
Trend 1: Many short trips instead of one long holiday
Backpacker hostel chain Zostel released its Festive Travel Pulse 2026 report on October 9. It found that festive bookings for October-December 2026 are already running about 50% ahead of the same point last year. Bookings for November stays are up 43%.
The more striking finding is how people are travelling. Based on its October-December 2025 data, Zostel says:
- Nearly one in four (23%) of its festive travellers booked more than one trip during the quarter.
- Nearly one in ten stayed at two or more destinations.
- The average festive stay lasted just two nights.
"The festive season is not one trip anymore. It is a season of trips," Zostel co-founder Dharamveer Singh Chouhan said, according to PTI.
Trend 2: Last-minute booking is now normal
Zostel's data shows a high degree of spontaneity:
- Three in ten travellers booked on the day of check-in.
- About six in ten booked within three days of arrival.
- Seven in ten booked within a week.
- Fewer than one in ten planned more than a month ahead.
The picture varies by type of traveller. Travel fintech platform Scapia reports the opposite trend in its hotel bookings, which lean towards premium stays. According to Scapia, the average booking lead time has risen from about 20 days to 29 days, and nearly 16% of bookings are made two months or more in advance. Budget backpackers decide at the last minute, while people booking villas and luxury resorts plan earlier, partly because the best properties sell out.
Trend 3: Premium stays are taking a bigger share
Scapia's numbers point to a clear shift towards premium travel:
- Festive bookings on the platform are running nearly four times higher than the same period last year, and room nights are up more than 4.2 times.
- Luxury properties make up nearly one-third of bookings and almost two-thirds of festive travel spending.
- The strongest days so far were October 2 and 3, which recorded the highest single-day hotel check-ins on the platform.
Scapia's growth figures partly reflect its own expansion as a platform, so read them as a signal of direction rather than a measure of the whole market. Yatra's comments support the premium trend, though: the company said its average fare per booking rose 25.8% year-on-year between April and September.
Trend 4: Expect higher room rates on peak dates
Scapia's data also gives a useful guide to festive pricing:
- Dussehra: room rates about 20% above usual.
- Diwali: about 30% above usual.
- Christmas and New Year's Eve: about 40% above regular dates, the steepest increase of the season.
Zostel's data agrees that year-end is the busiest stretch. December 25 recorded the highest number of check-ins last quarter, nearly 40% above an average day.
Trend 5: Where Indians are going
Most-booked destinations (Zostel, 2026 festive season so far):
- Hampi
- Gokarna
- Varkala
- Rishikesh
- Jaipur
Fastest-growing destinations, all in the Himalayas:
- Sangla: 3 times last year's bookings
- Kalpa: 2.9 times
- Shangarh: 2.8 times
- Chitkul: 2.6 times
- Shoja: 2.6 times
Three of the five, Sangla, Kalpa and Chitkul, are in Himachal Pradesh's Kinnaur district.
According to Moneycontrol, hoteliers also report strong demand for weekend getaways within driving distance of big cities. Searches for Lonavala, Mahabaleshwar, Coorg and Ooty have jumped. Pride Hotels pointed to strong demand at Haridwar and Mussoorie in the north, Udaipur, Alwar and Daman in the west, and Mandarmani and Darjeeling in the east.
Trend 6: Who is travelling
Zostel's guest profile, based on last year's festive quarter, is young and independent:
- Nearly seven in ten festive travellers were under 30. The 25-29 age group made up 44% of guests.
- More than half of bookings were solo, about 30% were pairs, and one in seven were groups of three or more.
- Women accounted for more than a fifth of guests.
- The biggest source cities were Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune and Hyderabad.
Yatra, meanwhile, highlights demand from Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities. The company said that in FY26 its festive season (September-November) delivered 22.5% more bookings than the preceding summer and 9.6% more revenue. It described the season as behaving "more like a plateau than a spike", with volumes continuing to grow into November.
What this means if you have not booked yet
- For Diwali and year-end luxury stays, book now. Scapia's data shows premium travellers are booking about a month ahead, and the best villas and resorts go first.
- For short, flexible trips, you can wait a little, but have a plan B. Last-minute booking works at hostels and mid-range stays in places like Hampi or Gokarna, but expect premiums on Diwali weekend and December 25.
- Avoid the most expensive dates. If you can, travel in mid-November or the first half of December. Yatra's data suggests demand and fares spread out across November.
- Prepare properly for Kinnaur. Sangla, Kalpa and Chitkul are getting more popular, but late autumn and winter in Kinnaur bring cold nights, short days and possible road disruptions. Check road conditions and carry proper winter gear.
- Look beyond the top five. When Hampi and Gokarna fill up, smaller places nearby are usually cheaper and quieter.
The bigger picture
Taken together, the reports show Indian festive travel splitting two ways: more frequent, shorter and more spontaneous trips on one side, and premium trips planned earlier on the other. For travellers, the season is spread over more weeks, which leaves more room to find good dates. Prices on the few peak days, though, are likely to stay high.
Sources
- The Economic Times (PTI): Festive travel bookings 50% ahead of last year as Indians opt for multiple getaways
- Hindustan Times: Festive travel picks up pace as nearly 1 in 4 travellers book multiple trips
- Moneycontrol: Diwali check-ins, Christmas cash-ins: Hotels gear up for a bumper festive season
- Social Samosa: Yatra on festive travel as a second holiday season
