The Travel Hotlist

Traipse around spice plantations in Thekkady, try your hand at golfi ng in Ranikhet and discover the Portuguese legacy of Diu. We round up 10 emerging Indian destinations to look out for in 2017.

- Harini Sriram

There’s much to see and do in this incredibly vast and diverse country. Little wonder then that most Indians, struck by wanderlust, are setting off on holidays at every chance they get—be it long weekends or around festivals. And where are they heading to? We look at the most favoured destinations in the country in 2016 and the ones you should head to in the coming year.

According to Rajeev Kale, President & Country Head Leisure Travel & MICE, Thomas Cook (India) Limited, Andaman, Kerala, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Ladakh were the most popular destinations among Indians this year. In fact, he points out that Rajasthan, Kerala, Agra and Goa saw the most number of FTAs (foreign tourist arrivals) in 2016. There’s also been a rise in FTAs this year, as indicated by Sharat Dhall, COO, B2C, Yatra.com, who points out that as per stats shared by the Ministry of Tourism, India witnessed a 13.4 percent growth in FTAs in September 2016 over the same period in 2015. While that’s a good sign, all’s not well with India’s tourism infrastructure. Both Dhall and Kale agree that even as connectivity has improved to a great extent, poor road infrastructure remains a major issue. Kale adds, “Another concern that will continue to remain right on top of the list is safety of tourists, facilities for senior citizens and the disabled. Making provisions for tourists of all kinds and setting up information counters at vantage points will go a long way in making a destination tourist friendly.”