Seven in 10 Gen Z travellers prefer short trips, says Airbnb report
Indian Gen Z travellers are increasingly choosing multiple short vacations over long annual holidays, according to an Airbnb report. The study found strong growth in short domestic getaways, with travel becoming an important form of self-expression and spontaneous decision-making
Mumbai: Short trips are replacing long annual holidays, with seven in 10 Gen Z travellers preferring three short trips over one long annual holiday, according to a report released on Monday.
Seven in 10 Gen Z travellers would rather take three short trips than one long annual holiday, while 87 per cent prefer trips that last less than a week, according to the Airbnb report, ‘Never the Same: The New Rules of Gen Z Travel in India’.
Searches by Indian Gen Z travellers for the summer period were up more than 30 per cent year-on-year, with shorter getaways of two to six nights emerging as the fastest-growing trip format, rising nearly 80 per cent for domestic travel, the report said.
The Airbnb report, ‘Never the Same: The New Rules of Gen Z Travel in India’, is based on the company’s internal data on searches made by Indian guests for check-ins between May 1 and June 30, 2026, compared with the same period last year.
The report further revealed that travel for Gen Z is less a planned event and more a reflexive response to stress, an open weekend or a friend who simply says, ‘Let’s go’.
Around 66 per cent of Gen Z travellers book within days or weeks of travel, and 67 per cent said no two trips they have taken have ever looked the same.
For Gen Z in India, travel has become one of the primary ways to express identity, with 87 per cent saying the way they travel reflects who they are as a person and 92 per cent feeling that their destination or stay reflects their personal taste rather than just a popular option.