Seeing Distinctive Travel Trends in India

India remains an important market for Booking.com, both within the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region and globally. The bookings in Asia are one of the big focus areas for the company, LAURA HOULDSWORTH, managing director and vice-president, APAC, Booking.com, said in a video interview with Roshni Shekhar. Edited excerpts:

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How was 2024 for Booking.com's business performance?

Overall, 2024 was very good for us. We (Booking Holdings) saw record room nights booked across the group of over 1.1 billion against 900 million last year (2023). We saw significant overall growth and room night growth, which was up by 20 percent in 2024 compared with 2023. We saw Asia as the fastest growing region with a mid-teens growth (in terms of room night growth). The US was up by about 10 percent, and Europe was up in the low double-digits.

We are anticipating another strong year in 2025. We also saw higher growth in the alternative accommodation, which was also a significant growth factor for us (in 2024). In recent years, Indian travellers have also been increasingly looking for properties that offer an alternative to the traditional hotel experience.

How does the APAC market differ from other global markets in terms of bookings?

European bookers represented about half of the room nights booked in 2024, Asian bookers were about a quarter, and US bookers were in the low double-digit percentage.