India’s Spiritual Tourism on the Rise - Younger, Solo, and Booking on their phones; reports Cleartrip’s PeekABoo Trends Tracker

The Cleartrip PeekABoo Trends Tracker shows that spiritual tourism is booming in India, with pilgrimage travel becoming one of the strongest drivers of domestic bookings this year.

Rise of Solo Pilgrimage Travel
- Female solo travellers are increasingly confident: Amarnath Yatra flight bookings by women rose 20% YoY.
- Dwarka also saw a 37% increase in solo women traveller bookings.

Char Dham Yatra Growth
- Haridwar: hotel bookings up 161%, bus bookings up 203%.
- Rishikesh: bus bookings up 113%.
- Train bookings along the Char Dham corridor also surged, showing multi-modal travel demand.
- Major origins: Bengaluru, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Delhi, Pune, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad.

Festival Calendar Boosts Demand
- Puri (Jagannath Rath Yatra): hotel bookings up 200%+.
- Mathura (Guru Purnima, Govardhan Parikrama): hotel bookings up 196%.
- Varanasi (Sawan, Kanwar Yatra): hotel bookings up 161%.

Year-Round Spiritual Hotspots
Destinations like Prayagraj, Ayodhya, Haridwar, Udupi, Thanjavur, Thrissur, Gokarna, and Tirupati all recorded triple-digit growth in hotel and bus bookings.

Accommodation Trends
- Budget hotels lead with 386% growth YoY.
- Mid-range hotels grew 164%, showing affordability remains key for pilgrims.

This data highlights how pilgrimage travel is diversifying—no longer just family trips, but also solo journeys, especially by younger and female travellers.