Saagar Panchal, Founder & CEO, Hireavilla

A technology-driven property management and marketing platform, Hireavilla provides the experience seekers with uniquely engaging villa stay experiences along with an unmatched holiday experience.

The Indian travel and hospi­tality industry has evolved over the years, from hy­per-competitive markets, changing demography, to an oversupply of hotel rooms. An untapped religious tourism market, the Indian hos­pitality sector is set to see a big change. Furthermore, the millennials, a generation of independent travelers have given a big shove to the ways of old conservative travel style. Research also indicates that millen­nials travel more extensively than previous generations. According to a survey report titled The Millennial Travel Survey 2017, conducted by Skyscanner India, 62 percent of Indian millennials those between the ages of 18 and 35 have vacations two to five times a year. So here’s how they're changing the game, perhaps forever.

"The millennials are increasingly choosing to travel alone in order to do what they want, when they want and to get a bit of hard-won ‘me time’"

1. Exploring unique destinations: There are certain characteristics that, over time, come to define a generation. The mil­lennials, it seems, will be known as adven­turers, risk-takers, and opportunists. It's a time-honored cliché that teens and young adults rebel against their parents, wanting to go their own way. This new set of travel­ers are now focusing on zones or nations that are unexplored in a conventional way.

2. Digitization at its best: New age travelers use the internet as a vast infra­structure for their travels. With different motives and different travel habits, every backpacker is different, but they do have a few things in common. The computer­ized change is a blessing from heaven for this contemplative generation that likes to travel. Millennials now prefer to do everything on the go on their gadgets, from checking in to requesting room administration to opening the room entryway itself. Truth be told, one can design a whole excursion from book­ing to sleep time and home again meanwhile never conversing with a live human.

3. Solo travels are on the rise: To­day’s millennial solo traveler is no longer defined by his/her relationship status or whether he/she has like-minded friends. Instead, they are increasingly choosing to travel alone in order to do what they want, when they want and to get a bit of hard-won ‘me time’. It would seem that choos­ing to travel solo is an increasingly an endeavor of self-preservation.

4. Experiential travel on the rise: For Indian millen­nials today, the itineraries aren’t always 100 percent con­firmed in advance; the destinations are unusual, exotic and offbeat, the resting places are more like luxury villas than luxury hotel rooms, and often they choose experi­ential travel over old stereotypical travels. In a survey conducted by Goldman Sachs, 60 percent of millennials did not feel strongly about owning a house while 82 per­cent of millennials save up for experiences that they can connect to. The travelers are becoming more experien­tial and often looking to explore regions rather than simple sightseeing tours.

5. 'Bleisure'- merging travel and leisure: From the new age digital nomad tapping out a blog post on a beach in the Maldives to the manager checking her emails on a brunch date in Amster­dam, from the full-time freelancer in a co-working space to the elite engineer coding from his home office, technology has blurred the boundaries between work and play, professional and person­al, career and downtime. ‘Work hard, party harder!’ is the mantra for the new age Indian millennial who turn business travel into weekend getaways and de­mand the best of both worlds. Welcome to the world of ‘Bleisure travel’ where business and pleasure go hand-in-hand enabling them to locate their own harmony between work satisfaction and individual enlightenment.

6.Religious travel on the rise: Apart from being the center of cultural and natural tourism; India is all set to become the spiritual tourism capital of the world. More international hotel chains are likely to increase their expansion and investment plans in India. The industry is offering lucrative jobs and profitable investment opportunities. For example, taking a trip to the Kumbh is the new cool for India’s millennials this year. Generation X wants to absorb and post the offbeat culture of the Kumbh on social media while exploring the local cuisine, art, and craft of the holy city of Prayagraj.