Thrillophilia’s 2025 Travel Index Shows Indians Are Taking Fewer Cities, Longer Trips

 

• Experiential travel overtook sightseeing as the top booking driver
• International travel rebounded strongly, led by Southeast Asia and Europe
• Long weekends and flexible work fuelled frequent short trips
• Adventure, nature, and offbeat destinations saw a sharp rise in demand
• Travellers showed a clear shift towards premium, curated experiences

 

Indian leisure travel underwent a clear behavioural shift in 2025, with travellers increasingly choosing fewer destinations, longer stays and better-paced itineraries over rushed, checklist-style holidays, according to the Thrillophilia 2025 Multi-Day Travel Index.

The index, based on confirmed and completed multi-day trips rather than search or intent data, analyses how Indians actually travelled in 2025 compared with 2024. The findings point to a maturing leisure travel market, where travellers across budgets and age groups prioritised execution reliability, comfort and experience depth over destination count or discounts.

Thrillophilia, India’s leading AI-powered travel operator, analysed thousands of executed trips to understand not just where Indians travelled, but how they structured their journeys and what ultimately influenced booking decisions when outcomes, not discounts, were at stake.

Speaking about the findings, Abhishek Daga, Co-Founder, Thrillophilia, said, “2025 was the year Indian travellers stopped asking how many places they could cover and started asking how well a trip would run. Across families, Gen Z, honeymooners and luxury travellers alike, we saw a clear preference for fewer destinations, slower pacing and customised itineraries. Peace of mind replaced price as the real definition of value.”

Slower Trips Replace Rushed Itineraries

One of the most consistent patterns observed in 2025 was a shift in trip design. Single-base itineraries with day excursions increased 36% year-on-year, while multi-city tours involving four or more stops declined 24%. Travellers increasingly favoured longer stays per destination, realistic daily schedules and built-in downtime.

The index recorded a 21% rise in slower, better-paced itineraries, while over-packed schedules declined 17%. Medium-length trips of 6–9 nights grew 19%, emerging as the most preferred format across families, couples and wellness travellers.

Customisation also became mainstream. Custom and semi-custom trips grew 18% and 16% respectively, while large group tours declined 21%, indicating a clear move away from fixed-format travel.

Domestic Travel Remained the Backbone

Domestic destinations continued to anchor multi-day leisure travel in 2025, particularly those that support slower pacing, diverse experiences and reliable logistics. Kerala (+19%) and Rajasthan (+17%) remained consistent favourites.

At the same time, emerging regions saw strong growth. North East India (+31%), Kashmir (+35%) and Ladakh (+31%) recorded sharp increases in multi-day demand, driven by improved connectivity and rising interest in experience-led travel.

Destinations offering predictable infrastructure, fewer transitions and strong hospitality ecosystems consistently outperformed, reinforcing the shift toward comfort-first trip design.

Short-Haul International Travel Surged

While domestic travel stayed strong, short-haul international destinations within seven hours of flight time recorded the fastest outbound growth. Countries such as Thailand (+21%), Singapore (+24%), Abu Dhabi (+36%), Vietnam (+31%) and the Philippines (+39%) benefited from visa ease, compact routing and high experience density.

Long-haul travel remained lower in volume but higher in intent. Destinations such as Japan (+39%), Kenya (+35%) and Iceland (+39%) saw growth driven by experience-led, milestone journeys rather than high-frequency travel.

Different Segments, Different Behaviours

The index highlights clear differences in how various traveller segments shaped demand.

Gen Z and young professionals showed the sharpest behavioural change. Multiple trips per year increased 51%, while short breaks of 4–6 nights grew 43%. Adventure-led itineraries rose 58%, and off-season travel increased 39%, driven by flexible work arrangements and experience-first preferences. Destinations such as Meghalaya (+46%), offbeat Himachal Pradesh (+41%) and Vietnam (+51%) resonated strongly with this cohort.

Families emerged as the most stable and fast-growing segment. Custom family itineraries grew 21%, comfort-first trips increased 19%, and rushed multi-city formats declined 18%. Advance planning rose 16%, with families consistently favouring destinations such as Rajasthan (+28%), Kerala (+31%), North East India (+42%) and Ladakh (+33%), where execution risk was lower.

Honeymoon, Luxury and Wellness Travel Turn Personal

Couples moved away from templated honeymoon packages. Custom honeymoon itineraries increased 47%, privacy-led stays rose 42%, and shorter “minimoons” of 5–7 nights grew 29%. Alongside established destinations such as Kerala and Bali, offbeat locations including Meghalaya (+44%) and Vietnam (+41%) gained traction.

 

Luxury travel in 2025 was defined less by extravagance and more by precision. Custom luxury itineraries grew 26%, while trips with fewer destinations increased 28%. Wellness-led multi-day travel rose 24%, with Kerala, Ladakh and Rajasthan leading domestically, and Japan (+33%), Kenya (+42%) and Italy (+27%) showing growth internationally.

Value Redefined

Across segments and geographies, the index points to a consistent redefinition of value. Trips that were well-paced, clearly planned and reliably executed recorded higher conversion, fewer cancellations and stronger post-trip satisfaction.

The data has been compiled by Thrillophilia, using aggregated, anonymised information from executed multi-day leisure trips across India and international markets.

The Thrillophilia 2025 Multi-Day Travel Index concludes that Indian travellers are no longer measuring value by how much they can cover. Instead, value is increasingly defined by how smoothly a trip runs and how confidently it can be delivered, signalling a structural shift in leisure travel behaviour.