Recapping travel in 2022, global hospitality technology platform, OYO unveils its year-end annual travel trends index – OYO’s Travelopedia 2022. Based on an analysis of OYO’s booking data globally, the report highlights key trends that shaped travel in 2022 across India, Europe, the USA, UK, Malaysia and Indonesia between 1st January to 1st December 2022.
INDIA
Hyderabad, Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata, and Chennai emerged as the most booked cities in India. India has witnessed a 44% increase in booking demand during Christmas week (25th December – 31st December) as compared to 2021. Destinations such as Goa, Hyderabad, Puri, Manali, and Kolkata emerged as top choices for travellers during this time.
According to OYO’s data, Uttar Pradesh became the most visited state in 2022. Smaller towns and cities such as Hathras, Srinagar in Uttarakhand, Sasaram, Karaikudi, and Tenali observed highest increase in bookings in 2022 vs 2021. June 4, 2022 was the most booked day in 2022.
Hyderabad, Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata, and Chennai are the most booked cities for business travel. On the other hand, Jaipur, Goa, Kochi, Varanasi, and Visakhapatnam topped the charts as favourite leisure destinations in 2022. Varanasi became the most booked destination for pilgrimage followed by Tirupati, Puri, Amritsar and Haridwar. June 3rd to 5th 2022 recorded the maximum bookings in comparison to any other long weekend this year.
What’s more?
In 2022, OYO’s customers made over 8 million super quick bookings in just under 5 minutes
Talk about a long vacation? Well, a traveller stayed for all of 91 days with OYO
OYO’s chatbot YoChat resolved 13 million queries in 2022
Users spend most time on the OYO app at around 12 noon
OYO app was downloaded the most on Saturday, 11th June 2022
Users booked via the ‘Pay at Hotel’ feature over 16 million times in 2022
Commenting on the global travel scenario, Shreerang Godbole, Global Chief Service Officer – OYO said, “2022 has been a year full of fervour. Travel has bounced back with a sharp recovery curve. During the past year, we faced challenges and learnt to overcome them by going back to the drawing board. We have invested significant time in understanding the pulse of the post-pandemic traveller and made strides on the customer experience front by launching several truly beneficial features for our users. This year, we observed that travellers wanted to make the most of their holidays, and extended long weekends. Remote working offered flexibility to consumers to use their time and explore domestic destinations to make up for their lost vacations. Globally, leisure destinations are leading the travel recovery curve, while in India, we’re seeing business travel also significantly contribute to the sector.”
EUROPE
Luxembourg, one of the 10 provinces of Belgium, has emerged as Europe’s favourite travel destination in 2022 according to OYO’s insights. The data analysis further reveals that most bookings made on the OYO Vacation Homes brand platforms stemmed from Denmark.
Between January and December 2022, Europeans have booked more vacation homes outside their own country compared to previous years, however travel to domestic destinations remains key. With the exception of German travellers who had Denmark as their top destination, all other travellers have had their own country as their preferred choice. Austria (+66%) and Germany (+27%) witnessed the highest booking increase among OYO Vacation Homes brand platforms.
With 2023 right around the corner, people are set to kick start their year with travel. Salzburg and Tyrol in Austria, Luxembourg and Liège in Belgium, Blavand and Marielyst in Denmark, North Holland and Zeeland in the Netherlands, Baltic Sea region and Sauerland in Germany have taken the top spot as 2023’s most preferred destinations in Europe.
The longest stay in Europe was booked for about 105 days in Denmark by a customer. Germans, Danish and Dutch travelled the most to any of our vacation homes across the continent.
In the European holiday home sector, Christmas continues being a high season. Netherlands, Belgium, and Austria stand out with the highest increase in bookings in the last ten days of the year (vs 2021). The most chosen destinations in each country for Christmas period are domestic, such as Blavand (Denmark), Luxembourg (Belgium) and Tyrol (Austria).
USA
Texas is the most travelled state in 2022 for OYO customers. 28th May 2022 saw the maximum bookings whereas the 4th of July weekend/ Independence Day (July 1- 3) was the most booked weekend in 2022. Houston, St. Louis Missouri, Markham, Durham (North Carolina), and Oklahoma City were the most booked destinations in the USA.
In addition, Sumter (South Carolina), Niagara Falls Area, Brownsville – Texas, Columbia (South Carolina), and Yuma (Arizona) witnessed the highest year-on-year growth as compared to 2021.
Fan alert! a traveller from the US made a single booking for 339 days in 2022.
In the US, Baton Rouge – Louisiana, Wichita Falls – Texas, Myrtle Beach – South Carolina, Pensacola – Florida, and Lincoln City – Orlando were the most booked leisure destinations. Houston, San Antonio, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, and Jackson were the most booked business travel destinations in 2022.
UK
London, Plymouth, Middlesbrough, Leicester, and Brighton take the top spot as the UK’s favourite holiday destinations of 2022. August 27th, 2022 saw the maximum bookings in 2022. The UK celebrated Queen Elizabeth’s platinum jubilee with great fervour as June 2nd – 4th was the most booked long weekend of 2022. When it comes to amenities, the English care most about ‘free parking’, which emerged as the UK’s most requested amenity in 2022.
Cities of Plymouth, Brighton, Hanwell, and Newquay saw the highest y-o-y growth in 2022 vs. 2021. Newquay, Brighton, Great Yarmouth, Plymouth, and Torquay were the top beach destinations in 2022, whereas, Bath, Durham, Newquay, Cambridge and Cannock emerged as OYO customers’ top choice for leisure. OYO’s business travellers went to cities of London, Manchester and Leicester for work-related travel.
This year, the UK observed a 34% uptick in booking demand for the Christmas and upcoming New Year’s Eve in comparison to 2021. For these upcoming holidays, travellers have planned trips to destinations such as London, Bath, Plymouth, Hanwell, Bath, Torquay and Durham.
INDONESIA
As the world’s most loved beach destination, Indonesia is one of the countries on every traveller’s bucket list. As per OYO’s booking trends, Bandung, Bali, Yogyakarta, Malang and Lampung have emerged as the top five leisure destinations in 2022 while Jakarta, Tangerang, Surabaya, Bekasi and Medan were the top five business destinations in 2022 in Indonesia. In Indonesia, Mawlid Al Nabi Holiday on October 8, 2022 was the most booked day. As for weekends, the weekend after the Eid-Ul-Fitr holiday on May 7 and 8, 2022 turned out to be the most booked weekend.
MALAYSIA
Johor Bahru, Kuala Lumpur, Kota Kinabalu, Kota Bharu and Kuantan have witnessed the highest bookings in 2022. Destinations like Penang Island and Malacca are witnessing the highest y-o-y growth in 2022 compared to 2021. Among holiday-goers, Malacca, George Town, Kundasang, Cameron Highlands and Langkawi are the most popular leisure tourist hotspots. Approximately, 1 million last minute bookings were made in Malaysia
