How India travelled in 2025: OTT series piqued interest in Northeast; Ayodhya, Varanasi top in spiritual destinations

In 2025, travel pattern of the youth of the country witnessed significant changes. The statistics revealed a 45 per cent rise in flight searches, 42 per cent increase in bus travel, and 20 per cent growth in train bookings compared to last year.

From spiritual pilgrimages and OTT-inspired itineraries to East Asian destinations, travel platform ixigo's The Great Indian Travel Index 2025 report highlighted some details that changed the trip outlook this year.

Revival of spiritual travel

People attend the ‘Dhwajarohan’ ceremony at the Ram Temple, in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh.

Data showed Gen Z-led bus bookings increased for spiritual pilgrimages to spots like Shirdi, Amritsar, Prayagraj, Ayodhya, and Tirupati. Bus bookings to Prayagraj rose nearly 20 times year-on-year (YoY), with the highest domestic flight fare on ixigo in 2025 recorded during the same period, Mumbai–Prayagraj at Rs 92,644, being the costliest domestic flight.

Furthermore, Flight bookings jumped to places like Varanasi (+134 per cent), Tirupati (+102 per cent ), and Ayodhya (+54 per cent ). The train and bus bookings to destinations like Mathura and Ujjain also increased massively.

OTT-inspired trips

Men park their boats at the Brahmaputra river bank after catching fish, in Guwahati.

With the releases of various shows and their succeeding seasons, such as Paatal Lok 2 and The Family Man, travel plans to the Northeastern part of the country surged.

Dimapur (+77 per cent ), Agartala (+48 per cent ), Guwahati and Imphal (+44 per cent each), and Itanagar (+42 per cent ) are some regions that recorded a growth in YoY flight bookings. The premiere of such TV shows really did influence the youth to indulge and become one with the region's culture.

Tourism boost in East Asia

Representative image of he streets of South Korea. 

As the domestic travel trends showed impacts of youth choices in local tourism, internationally the data underscored that Japan (+63 per cent ) and South Korea (+61 per cent ) were two destinations that capped travellers' choices. Subsequently, Vietnam (+57 per cent ) and Thailand (+53 per cent ) also showed boost in flight tickets.

Apart from the two, countries like Oman (+71 per cent ), Kenya (+65 per cent ), and Kazakhstan (+54 per cent ) appeared to be emerging hotspots for travel picks.

2025 was a defining year in understanding traveller choices, destination options and preferences. Aloke Bajpai, Group CEO, ixigo quoted by media reports saying, “What truly stood out in The Great Indian Travel Index 2025 was the scale and diversity of travel demand across the country."

"We’re also seeing Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities increasingly shape India’s travel narrative. Cities such as Rishikesh, Indore, Nagpur, Bhopal, Lucknow, and Assam are driving strong demand across flights, trains, and buses, with several metro-to-emerging city bus routes experiencing YoY growth of nearly 80 per cent. Together, these trends reflect how travel in India is deeply rooted in culture, belief, and aspiration, cutting across age groups, geographies, and travel modes," said Rajnish Kumar, Group Co-CEO, ixigo.