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If you're looking for some inspiration on how to spend the upcoming holiday season, it's time to take cues from fellow Indians. A recent study by American Express has highlighted that a staggering 97% of Indians have their travel plans set for the forthcoming festive season, and more than 30% have already made their bookings. What's more, around 93% won't shy away from spending a few extra bucks if it means making their trip more comfortable and fun. A recent <keyword id="23687478" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Skyscanner-report" source="keywords">Skyscanner report</keyword> titled Travel Trends 2025 also underlined this growing preference for <keyword id="23687479" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="comfortable-travel" source="keywords">comfortable travel</keyword> among Indians. Per the report, 57% of Indians were okay spending a little extra to get a good quality in-flight meal. For 47%, good seats and hence, seat selection was a priority, and 42% of surveyed Indians preferred comfort right from the trip's start-valuing access to airport lounges. Per the <keyword id="23687477" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="American-Express-study" source="keywords">American Express study</keyword>, while most people (63%) just want to let their hair down and relax, 54% want to don their explorer hats and see new places. About 27% just want to get away from the chaos of their daily lives and spend time with their near and dear ones. Most of us (around 88%) just have Bharat Darshan on our itinerary, while 61% felt like the world was calling us, which is why they plan to travel internationally. Irrespective of destinations, a staggering 91% of Indian travelers believe holidays can help build resilience and strength, so they’re better able to handle the stresses of everyday life. But even amidst all this traveling, Indians do not forget to be budget-conscious, which explains why 73% of Indians won't shy away from generously using their <keyword id="23687480" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="credit-card-points" source="keywords">credit card points</keyword>, <keyword id="23687481" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="airline-miles" source="keywords">airline miles</keyword>, or loyalty rewards. Soak in the festivities and experience The American Express study, which spanned Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Singapore, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States, apart from India, only reinforced that pretty much everyone across the world is in a mood to travel and relax. Globally, 58% of respondents from these countries had plans to visit their family and friends. For those few who had no travel plans but rather wanted to lounge and laze in their homes, 40% had family or friends visiting them. But quality time with loved ones was not the only thing on the list, with 55% also taking trips outside of visiting family. Also, buying gifts during the season is seemingly passe. Every 1 in 3 respondents chose gifting their loved ones an experience rather than a material gift. Atop this gift list are entertainment-related experiences, preferred by 59% of respondents. Travel-related experiences come next, chosen by 54% of those surveyed, followed by food and drink-related experiences, which were opted for by 49% of respondents. The Skyscanner also highlighted that 66% of Indian travelers plan to travel more in 2025. As to the deciding factors for choosing the next travel destination, food, culture, and weather played a crucial role for 63%, 58%, and 57% of respondents, respectively. Skyscanner's report also highlighted this trend, noting that people were increasingly looking forward to having unique experiences. 53% of Indians surveyed wanted to travel to watch a live game or sporting event in 2025. At 54%, this number was slightly higher amongst the 25-34 age cohort.

Travel, Eat, and Have Fun: How Indians plan to spend their holidays

<ul><li>With growing affluence and technology, the pace of consumerism in India’s small towns is growing fast, say experts.</li><li>Their love for premium products, products that exhibit self-love and care is driving them to shop online.</li><li>A confluence of technology, growing income levels, education and more has caused a cultural shift in small towns. </li></ul>India’s small towns have been running behind big cities for a long time — but that’s no longer true. Thanks to the juxtaposition of technology, rising income levels and policies – small towners are not what they once were. The biggest generational change is that — few dream of living in a big city. While most of them do not want to migrate, rising job opportunities, availability of first-grade educational institutions are ensuring they do not have to. “The pandemic has also ensured reverse migration where they can generate more income and enjoy a livelihood thanks to the digital revolution,” said Suraja Kishore, CEO of BBDO, an advertising agency, speaking at a webinar organized by Market Research Society of India (MRSI). Moreso, they are not unhappy with where they’re from either. “If you see, many of them introduce themselves with their district name and village name,” said Kishore, emphasizing on how strong their sense of identity has become. The Western sanskaris It’s not just attitudes that are changing – their income levels are rising almost on-par with their urban counterparts too. While the all-India urban average monthly household income has been growing at 8.4% for the last five years, it has been growing at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.8% in tier 2 and tier 3 cities, says Kantar. The number of graduates and postgraduates have also been growing at the exact same rate of 5.6% CAGR in urban areas as well as T2 and T3 cities, it adds. All this has been bringing a cultural shift in small towns, says Aditya Kaul, group account director at Kantar. “They enjoy the comfort of online shopping, and are also embracing Westernization at a faster rate, with the world at their fingertips,” adds Kaul. Kishore also agrees that the trend of trends ‘percolating’ from the West to big cities of India, and then to towns is gone. Love, thy self Now, liberated, small towners are also becoming consumers of premium products. “They are expressing affluence with an increasing focus on comfort and self-love. They are high on individualism, outspoken and more ambitious,” Kaul says. Kaul concurs, “There is a higher pace of growing consumerism in small towns along with growing individualism, outspokenness and more ambition.” It’s very much evident from their spending and buying habits. E-tailing or electronic retailing has been growing at 37% CAGR in T2 and T3 cities as compared to 20% in urban areas – between 2019 and 2022. While a large part of this change is credited to mobile telephony and technology, there are other factors at play too. “A lot of factors came together like government policy and economic growth. If technology had come when there was no money, or even policies were not aligned, it would have been different,” explains Aashish Shukla, consumer and market insights lead at ITC. Raw, not refined According to Kantar, as many as half the ‘urban consumers’ between 15-55 years, at around 139 million of them, reside in T2 and T3 towns. And their number is growing in small cities and towns beyond that too. The new-age consumers are growing in affluence and becoming more demanding, but are they easy to market to? The answer is not so easy, say branding and marketing experts. “In small towns, products have to be customized to their reality. For example, if they buy a mobile phone, they cannot courier in case of a defect to a service center in a bigger town and it takes a few months etc,” says Shukla. For a long time, small towns and villages have been bringing in volumes for FMCG giants due to their consumption of smaller sized packs, and most of them did away with smaller stock keeping units that served this purpose. That might no longer work, especially after many local brands – some offline and some completely online – have been creeping into the market and making a dent. Not only are these brands — across food, beauty and personal care — challenging large FMCG giants, they’re also winning hearts with their earthy flavour and feel. “They are sharper with their marketing and are heavily expanding. If you talk to many of them, they do not have local ambitions, they all want to expand nationally and internationally,” says Kishore. The urban and non-urban areas were divided on the basis of spending power, preferences and urbanization levels. But those theories are being unwound by the new consumer cohort that’s westernizing without urbanizing, buys premium products online without visiting malls – and racing ahead to a new reality.

The rising affluence of small town consumers driving demand for premium products

<keyword id="1575" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Congress" source="Orion">Congress</keyword> leader <keyword id="5268" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="rahul-gandhi" source="Orion">Rahul Gandhi</keyword> on Thursday interacted with porters at the <keyword id="154301" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="anand-vihar-railway-station" source="Orion">Anand Vihar railway station</keyword> in Delhi and sought to know their problems. Gandhi was also seen wearing the porters' trademark red shirt and lifting luggage over his head. He then sat down with the porters and sought to know their problems. "People's hero Rahul Gandhiji met his porter friends at the Anand Vihar railway station in Delhi today. Recently, a video had gone viral in which the porter friends of the railway station had expressed their desire to meet him," the Congress said in a post on X, with a picture of Gandhi interacting with the porters. "Today, Rahulji reached among them and listened to them ... Bharat Jodo journey continues," the party said. Gandhi has been interacting with various sections of society from mechanics to students, asserting that his <keyword id="13979704" type="General" weightage="70" keywordseo="bharat-jodo-yatra" source="Orion">Bharat Jodo Yatra</keyword>, which he undertook from Kanyakumari to Kashmir, continues with these interactions. Gandhi recently visited Ladakh and held interactions with various social groups. Earlier, the Congress leader had visited Bengali Market, Jama Masjid area in Delhi to have food and then visited Mukherjee Nagar area to interact with the UPSC aspirants. He had also visited Delhi University's PG Men's hostel to have lunch with the students and then took a truck ride from Haryana's Murthal to Ambala to understand their pain. Gandhi had also visited the farm lands during the paddy sowing season and interacted with farmers in Haryana's Sonepat, visited bike mechanic shops in Delhi's Karol Bagh area, visited Azadpur Mandi amid skyrocketing prices of vegetables. He had also invited the farmers of Sonepat and a vegetable vendor Rameshwar separately over lunch at his residence here. (With inputs from IANS)

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Travel, Eat, and Have Fun: How Indians plan to spend their holidays

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The rising affluence of small town consumers driving demand for premium products

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Rahul Gandhi interacts with porters at Anand Vihar railway station in Delhi

PTI

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