3 min readNew DelhiSep 17, 2020 09:24 PM IST
First published on: Sep 16, 2020 at 10:50 AM IST
For travel enthusiasts it has been a difficult year in home confinement. Had it been an ordinary year, people would have made elaborate plans to explore unexplored places. But the pandemic has made it difficult to move anywhere. And unless it is absolutely safe to do so, most people are holding on to their travel plans for now. But that has certainly not stopped them from dreaming about and planning future trips.
The data collected by YouGov DestinationIndex — an international research and data analytics company that tracks public perception of the world’s most popular hotspots on a daily basis — has revealed that Goa is the number one choice of urban Indians for their next vacation.
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Goa recently opened its doors to tourism, and started reopening restaurants with certain guidelines — such as social distancing, temperature check and wearing of masks. According to the unlock 4.0 guidelines, COVID-negative certificate, or home isolation for those travelling to Goa will no longer be required. With steady efforts taken by the state authorities to welcome tourists again, it is not surprising to see people choose Goa as their top holiday spot amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The DestinationIndex data seems to suggest that domestic travel may be on the minds of Indians. It shows that despite travel bouncing back globally, Indians choose to stay close to home. In fact, four out of the top five places to travel are local destinations.
Despite the constantly rising cases, travel enthusiasts are keen to holiday in Delhi, ranking it second in the list of top ten destinations. Kerala is a close third, followed by Maharashtra in the fourth position. The interest and preference to travel to both these locations have increased over the last ten days.
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Island country Maldives — which opened its international borders in July– is the only international destination that finds a rank in the top five (at fifth). In fact, preference for Maldives has seen a rise, from 2.6 per cent to 6.8 per cent, in the last 10 days. After four months of lockdown, Maldives has relaxed many travel norms. Incentives such as free visa on arrival and no compulsory quarantine could be another reason for the increase in interest to travel to this location.
Besides Maldives, Switzerland and Dubai are the other foreign destinations on the list, in seventh and tenth positions, respectively.
Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Rajasthan complete the list of top ten destinations, in sixth, eighth and ninth places, respectively.
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With steady efforts taken by the state authorities to welcome tourists again, it is not surprising to see people choose Goa as their top holiday spot amid the COVID-19 pandemic. (Source: Pixabay) 
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