Rahul Agarwal loves to play Texas holdem poker. And he’s equally passionate about taking off on long weekends. So every time he gets the chance, Agarwal, who owns an insurance firm in Calcutta, heads off to his favourite destination, Macau, for a game of poker — like he did last month. “I love gambling and Macau is my favourite destination,” he says. And adds: “I promote weekend travelling because given the pressures we face, one should take as many breaks as possible.”

So, Agarwal takes “two kinds of weekend holidays”. He, his wife and their two-year-old daughter head off to nearby spots like Mandarmani or Vedic Village every other weekend. And once a quarter, on long weekends, he ventures further afield to places like Gangtok, Hong Kong and his other favourite, Goa. “They’ve just started direct flights to Goa from Calcutta so that will be on top of my charts now. It will be the beach during the day and the casino at night,” he says with relish.

Meanwhile, Manoj Periwal, 35, loves a weekend getaway — and a mean deal too. So, once a quarter, the placement consultant from Calcutta heads off on a long weekend with his wife, Manisha, and 18-month-old son, Karanveer. And he plans early to grab the best discounts too. “I have my holiday dates pre-planned. The idea is to cover as many locations as possible,” he says.

Last Durga Puja, he vacationed in Darjeeling — he got return flights to Bagdogra for all three for just Rs 3,800. Then, he spent the Republic Day weekend in Puri. And now, he’s headed to Shillong for the Good Friday weekend, having grabbed return flights for the family for just Rs 7,500. “I like to get a good deal and go and relax in a nice property and enjoy the local cuisine,” says Periwal.

Time was when Indians took just one long holiday a year — and that too to their ‘native place’. Then, it became one long holiday and one short break. “Now, it has become one long holiday, one short and several weekend breaks a year,” says Daniel D’Souza, head of sales, tour operating, Kuoni India.

So, Periwal and Agarwal are part of the growing tribe of Indians who’re taking off on long weekends to get away from the urban frenzy of their workaday lives. They’re enjoying weekend getaways to old-time favourites within driving distance, like Shimla, Jaipur, Corbett and Manali from Delhi; Raichak and Mandarmani from Calcutta; or Lonavala and Mahabaleshwar from Mumbai. And they’re venturing further away to explore new places and experiences, from skiing in Dubai to gambling in Macau. Even former short-break destinations like the Andamans and Coorg have turned into weekend getaways.

Indeed, the weekend getaway has emerged as a whole new — and huge — segment for travel businesses with everyone from travel agencies to hotels to airlines pitching in.

Consider this. According to Vishal Sinha, COO, Tui India, half of the travel agency’s domestic sales comes from weekend getaways today compared to just around 15 per cent two years ago. “If you look at our target audience of working couples and young families, the long weekend has become the only time to bond with the family. That’s why it’s become popular” he says.

Or take a look at top holiday information portal HolidayIQ.com. “Eight years ago, when we started, we had 50 popular destinations that domestic travellers went to. Today, we feature 1,200 destinations of which people visit 850 actively. This rise from 50 to 850 represents the growth of weekend travel,” says Hari Nair, founder and CEO, HolidayIQ.com. Nearly 75 per cent of HolidayIQ’s traffic of 8 million visitors a month is for weekend getaways, he adds.

Bangalore-based Vipul Kasera too spotted the opportunity in weekend getaways early when he set up LifeIsOutside, a specialist short-break travel platform, in 2010. “We got into weekend getaways as we saw that it was going to be an upward trend. But the information was fragmented. So we decided to aggregate and curate weekend experiences to cater to people with different interests and budgets,” he says.

Today, LifeIsOutside has over 2,000 “handpicked getaways” listed against 50 in 2010. “In the metros today, people are high on disposable income but short on time. So the weekend getaway fits in perfectly as you don’t need much planning,” says Kasera.

Naturally, then, the travel agencies — and travel portals — are heavily promoting weekend getaways and offering enticing packages. Sharat Dhall, president, marketing, Yatra.com, says that the portal’s weekend getaway sales have grown “exponentially” in the last 15 months and account for 25 per cent of its domestic sales today. So, hotel bookings rose by three times this Holi weekend on Yatra. “The concept of getting away from it all even for a short time has really caught on,” says Dhall.

The growing middle class, higher income levels and rising aspirations are all responsible for this growth. But Nair says that it’s also increased because there are “so many more originating destinations for tourists today”.
“Ten years ago, you mainly got tourists from the four or five big metros. Today, there are at least 80 cities that are generating tourists,” he says. In fact, HolidayIQ’s traffic is split 50:50 between A-class metros and non-metros now compared to 80:20 five years ago.

So from Nagpur to Surat to Bhubaneswar, more and more Indians are taking weekend breaks. They’re heading to new destinations that have come up or opened up because of better road connectivity. And in turn, they’re fanning the popularity of existing destinations. For instance, Nair points out that the picturesque Araku Valley near Visakhapatnam is a big hit with tourists from Bhubaneswar. Similarly, the rising number of tourists from Nagpur has increased the popularity of Pachmarhi hill station in Madhya Pradesh, three hours away by road.

So where are Indians enjoying their long weekends? Naturally, the top preference is beaches and hill stations that are within 250km or driving distance from their home towns. But they’re also availing themselves of cheap flights and hotel packages to holiday abroad.

For instance, Kuoni is pitching its Zero Planning Holidays to countries that give visa on arrival as weekend getaways. “You can decide on Thursday and leave on Friday. People are now going to Hong Kong and Bali for the weekend,” says D’Souza. This Holi weekend, its packages to Bangkok and Bali were a big hit.

Tui had travellers flying off to Dubai’s indoor skiing resort, Ski Dubai, this Holi. While LifeIsOutside’s Kasera says that Sri Lanka is now a popular weekend destination from Bangalore.

Or look at some of the domestic getaways in HolidayIQ’s long weekend 2015 calendar, which is based on reviews from travellers. So how about going coral walking on Pirotan Island, India’s only Marine National Park, near Jamnagar in Gujarat? Or surfing in Murudeshwara in Karnataka? Yatra.com’s Weekend Wanderlust series on TV six months ago featured getaways like the Havelock Islands in the Andamans.

According to HolidayIQ’s Nair, as infrastructure improves, more destinations are turning into weekend getaways too. So Coorg, which has seen homestays mushroom in the last decade, is now a popular weekend getaway from Bangalore.
Similarly, earlier, the stunning Konkan beach resort, Tarkarli, had just one Maharashtra Tourism guest house. But with more resorts and homestays now, and scuba-diving and parasailing activities, more holiday-makers are headed here from Mumbai and Pune.

At LifeIsOutside, Kasera says the Andamans are “trending” for the Ugadi weekend in April. And Yatra’s Dhall points out that with places like Shimla and Manali becoming overcrowded, smaller spots like Binsar and Auli have become more popular today.

Of course, if you want to take a break every quarter, you would want a good deal. Well, you can take some tips from Periwal, who’s always on the lookout for offers. “I’m registered on all the travel websites and airlines. So as soon as they launch an offer, I get an alert. Plus, I’m an early riser and scan the dailies. Since the cheap tickets are usually for the first few bookings, I get in early,” he says.

On the other hand, banker Mrityunjay Shukla can vouch for the popularity of weekend travel. “You can’t get a place to stay even if you try booking a month before,” he says. Last December, when he decided to take his wife and two kids to Bandipur, it was a mad scramble. “Luckily, LifeIsOutside got me a last-minute booking. With my wife working, our weekend getaways are focused on the family,” he says.

Yet, Indians aren’t just looking at a relaxing weekend at a resort any more. “Now, they want to come back with ‘a memory’,” says Nair. So even in the old favourite destinations, they’re looking for activities from adventure sports to culinary trails.

They’re willing to spend much more money too. According to Tui’s Sinha, the average spend on long weekends is
Rs 21,000 to Rs 25,000 per person. “People are also spending a lot more within the hotel and on activities,” he says. Yatra’s Dhall says budgets could range from Rs 10,000 a head to Rs 35,000.

Clearly, the players are only expecting the demand to grow. So, if you missed out on the Holi weekend, fear not. There are at least three more just around the corner — Good Friday, Poila Baishakh (if you take a day off), and the Labour Day weekend in May. So go ahead, plan early and grab that exciting weekend getaway deal.