Travel Trends – 2022 by Prateek Hira published in TravTalk

(TravTalk – 2nd Fortnight Issue – Jan’22. Prateek Hira’s inputs )

Watch out for travel trends in 2022 – “The exploration of lesser known places will be a dominant trend, with the kind of knowledge today’s travellers have gained” – Prateek Hira


TravTalk Interview of Prateek HiraPeople have learnt to spend on holidays much more and make it a part of their annual budget, which is encouraging for the industry. Prateek Hira, IATO Chapter Chairman, Uttar Pradesh; President & CEO, Tornos and Director, River Rhapsody said, “Indian travellers who were till now spending large amounts only on their foreign travel (outbound) have learnt to spend similarly large amounts within India too, thus domestic travel is no more a budget travel business. I foresee this trend growing further in 2022. This will make our travel economy more stable, self-reliant and also attract a lot of high-end travel businesses in the domestic travel segment”.

He further added, “Small and personalised travel companies will gain ground as travellers will have many more questions than they ever had and this new

class of travellers may not be so happy dealing with large tour companies that, in spite of their best efforts, may not be able to cater to this demand so well.” And the same will apply to B2B dealings in terms of dealings with large DMCs. This trend will bring regional players and small operators more prominently into the mainstream market.

The travel industry saw a change in 2021 when people went to places that were less crowded and less popular. This will continue in 2022 as people explore new destinations, which is one of the most expected trends. “Travel till now has been quite unevenly distributed in India. With the kind of knowledge that travellers of today have gained, the exploration of lesser-known places will be a dominant trend, and thereby, lesser known destinations will see an upsurge of tourists, “said Hira.

He continued, “The distinction between travel businesses such as inbound, domestic, outbound, and so on will become diluted, and the new-age tour operator will mean the ‘one who offers tours to travellers’ rather than in the area of descriptive geographical boundaries. “Operators will reinvent themselves and get into new travel verticals that otherwise they were resisting to ramp up their revenue sources.”