Pilgrimage and religious travel accounted for nearly half of India’s overnight trips, a new survey by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) showed.
Around 48% of overnight trips were undertaken for ‘pilgrimage & religious’ purpose, with ‘health & medical’ purpose making up for the other 30%, according to the results of MoSPI’s Domestic Tourism Expenditure Survey, released on Wednesday.
The second-largest share in overnight trips was for ‘health & medical’ purposes in rural areas at 38.4% and ‘holidaying, leisure & recreation’ in urban areas at 36.4%.
Medical trips record highest average spending
The Domestic Tourism Expenditure Survey (DTES) mainly captures the details of domestic overnight trips like duration of trip, mode of transport, type of stay availed, and trip expenses. The present survey was conducted during July 2025 to June 2026.
Average expenditure per overnight trip completed during last 365 days was highest for ‘health & medical’ trips at Rs 32,167. Trips with leading purpose ‘shopping’ were the second costliest with average expenditure of Rs 18,981.
In rural areas, health & medical trips incurred maximum average expenditure at Rs 29,454, while in urban areas this figure was Rs 41,649.
For the trips completed during last 30 days, maximum spending on average was on ‘business trips’ at Rs 5,949, followed by ‘education & training’ trips at Rs 3,953. Both rural and urban households spent the most on trips with leading purpose ‘business’ at Rs 5,179 and Rs 6,934, respectively.
Average expenditure per same-day trip, incurred by the households in rural and urban areas, was highest for trips undertaken with purposes ‘shopping’ at Rs 1,795 for rural areas and Rs 2,631 for urban areas,
On average, out of 100 overnight trips completed during the last 30 days, 89 trips were performed for ‘social’ purpose. “‘Social’ (33%) and ‘Shopping’ (26%) were the two most frequently undertaken same-day trips by households, with shopping accounting for the highest expenditure share in both rural and urban areas,” the ministry said.
May, October see peak holiday travel; buses and trains lead
The average trip size was recorded as 2.03 overnight visitors per trip. Around 80% of visitors preferred to stay for 5 days or less during their respective overnight trips.
May and October were the peak months for domestic overnight trips undertaken for holidaying, leisure and recreation purpose during the last 365 days.
Bus was the dominant mode of travel for rural households with 32% share in the visitor trips, while train was the most availed mode for travelling by urban households for such trips with a share of 35%.
Combining visitors both from within the state and from other states, Uttar Pradesh accounted for the highest share in total visitor-trips at 15.7%, followed by Tamil Nadu at 13.4%, and Rajasthan at 8%.