From one big vacation to many small escapes: Here's how Indians are changing the way they travel

For Indian travellers, the idea of saving all leave days and expenses for one long annual holiday is steadily giving way to a more fluid travel routine. Travel is no longer planned around a single big break but is spread across the year in the form of shorter, more frequent journeys. Scapia’s 2025 Travel Insights capture this shift, showing how travel in India has moved from being occasional to continuous.

Instead of waiting for one major vacation, Indians are now travelling multiple times through the year. Flight bookings grew five times year-on-year, train bookings increased nine times, and card spends were recorded across 113 currencies in 174 countries. These numbers underline how Indian travellers are moving more often and exploring far beyond traditional destinations.

The data also shows that travellers are increasingly combining flights, trains, buses, stays and forex to create flexible, experience-led journeys. Scapia saw strong growth across travel categories in 2025, along with wider participation from Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities and a growing reliance on rewards to support incremental travel.

Travel patterns in 2025 show a clear departure from the once-a-year holiday model. Growth across flights, stays, trains and buses indicates that travel is now spread evenly across the calendar. Weekend breaks, work-enabled stays and short international trips are increasingly replacing the traditional single long vacation.

The geography of travel also widened significantly. Within India, travellers booked trips to destinations such as Ziro in Arunachal Pradesh, Pakyong in Sikkim, Jagdalpur in Chhattisgarh and Pasighat in Arunachal Pradesh. International travel extended to a broader set of locations, with the Scapia Federal Credit Card being used across 113 currencies in 174 countries, including Tashkent in Uzbekistan, Luang Prabang in Laos, Barbados in the Caribbean and Puerto Princesa in the Philippines.

Participation expanded across demographics as well. International flight bookings by women tripled in 2025, with Tier-2 cities driving more than 2.5 times growth. Among younger travellers, Gen Z accounted for 33% of all train bookings and 40% of solo female bus bookings, highlighting increased comfort with ground transport and easier access to destinations beyond major airport hubs.

Flights were no longer the sole driver of travel. Train and bus bookings formed a meaningful share of overall usage, reflecting a growing preference for multi-modal travel. These options are enabling travellers to move more frequently and flexibly, particularly for shorter trips and visits to offbeat locations.

Rewards played a major role in enabling frequent travel. Nearly 50% of train bookings and 60% of bus bookings in 2025 were fully funded through Scapia coins redemptions. Instead of saving rewards only for large vacations, travellers are increasingly using everyday spending to support weekend getaways and short-haul journeys.

Another noticeable shift was in how travellers chose destinations. Trips are increasingly planned around experiences rather than places. Activities such as treks, safaris, concerts, festivals and cultural immersions are influencing travel decisions, with travellers focusing more on what they want to do than on where they want to go.

Looking ahead, Scapia expects Indian travel in 2026 to be shaped by frequency rather than distance, with taking three or more trips a year becoming more common, especially in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities. Short, repeatable journeys are expected to outperform the traditional once-a-year long holiday as rewards, faster booking and improved connectivity reduce friction.

Destinations that fit neatly into 48–72 hour windows are also expected to move into the mainstream. Instead of being chosen for popularity alone, places that offer reliable entry and exit for short breaks will become more practical and repeatable. Offbeat travel will no longer mean hard to reach, but easy to return to.

International travel is also set to move away from city checklist itineraries towards experience-led journeys. Festivals, dives, treks, concerts and short cultural immersions are expected to drive bookings, with destination choices increasingly answering the question of what travellers can do there rather than where they should go.

Indian travellers are also beginning to reassess what premium means at airports. Instead of exclusivity, flexibility and real value are gaining importance. With one in three Scapia users already preferring shopping and dining over lounge access, airports are likely to evolve into experience-driven spaces where loyalty is built through usefulness rather than access alone.