India’s travellers are booking wider, earlier, and upgrading their holiday plans as MakeMyTrip’s inaugural ‘Travel Ka Muhurat’ campaign registers strong early traction. In just six days between October 29 and November 3, the platform saw bookings across 1,441 Indian cities and 834 cities globally in 109 countries, signalling an expanding travel footprint backed by rising aspirations. Preliminary data shows early flight bookings for year-end travel have doubled, indicating a trend toward advance planning. On stays, premiumisation stood out, with one out of three domestic hotel bookings and 64.5% of international bookings made for 4- and 5-star properties. Travellers also displayed value-conscious behaviour, with 96% of domestic hotel bookers using discounts via banks like HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, and partners Visa and RuPay.
Top domestic leisure destinations included Goa, Jaipur, Udaipur, and Lonavala, while Dubai, Pattaya, Bangkok, Phuket, Singapore, and Bali led international charts. Limited-time deals such as Lightning Drops between 6–9 PM spurred high participation.
In Kolkata, travel agencies and hospitality partners report rising festive travel demand, particularly for Southeast Asian destinations, luxury beach resorts, and heritage leisure stays. Industry observers say the city’s travellers are increasingly aligning with the national shift toward premium yet value-driven holiday planning, with many leveraging festive sales and EMI-based booking options. MakeMyTrip Co-founder & Group CEO Rajesh Magow said the campaign aims to enable better planning and predictable demand across the travel ecosystem. The initiative will continue through November with weekly themes and partner offers.
