the worlds leading hotel booking website, released its latest search trends for July 2010 and figures show a significant increase in the number of searches from Hotels.coms Indian website for hotels in the countrys smaller cities.

Kochi, home to the beautiful Fort Kochi, tops the search increase on Hotels.com with a 995% increase over July 2009. The state of Kerala finds its other main tourist destination–Munnar, at fourth place in the list with a 970% increase. Other destinations which place in the top 20 are Bhopal, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Haridwar, Khajuraho, Ahmedabad, Port Blair, Allahabad, Bhubaneshwar, Tirupati and Mathura. Also, at least four of the cities on the list are well known pilgrimage centres, indicating a trend of heightened interest in pilgrimage travel in the last month compared to the same time last year.

Top Indian destinations (in terms of search increases for hotels on Hotels.com by Indian travellers: July 2009 versus July 2010):

City                             Hotel Recommendation
1     Kochi (up 995%)    
4* Le Meridien - prices from Rs 6,098 per room per night
2     Bhopal (Up 980%)    
3* WelcomHeritage Noor-Us-Sabah Palace – prices from Rs 4,700 per room per night
3     Jalandhar (Up 975%)     4* Radisson Hotel - prices from Rs 5,525 per room per night
4     Munnar (Up 970%)     4* Club Mahindra Lake View - prices from Rs 6,300 per room per night
5     South Delhi (Up 960%)     5* Hyatt Regency - prices from Rs 7,200 per room per night
6     Ludhiana (Up 950%)    
4* Life Hotel – prices from Rs 10,000 per room per night
7     Haridwar (Up 950%)    
4* Ambrosia Sarovar Portico – prices from Rs 4,000 per room per night
8     Goa (Up 935%)    
5* Fort Aguada Beach Resort – prices from Rs 6,000 per room per night
9     Khajuraho (Up 915%)    
4.5* The Lalit Temple View Khajuraho – prices from Rs 10,500 per room per night
10     Ahmedabad (Up 915%)    
3* Comfort Inn Sunset – prices from Rs 7,523 per room per night

Whilst the majority of Indian metros such as Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Bangalore remain perennial favourites with travelers from within India their year on year increase is smaller. The only big-city metro to feature in top 20 increased searches is New Delhi and specifically South Delhi.

Hotels.com, a market leader which travelers across the globe trust with their bookings, tracks search trends on their website to understand traveler interest. Also, increasingly Indian travelers are using Hotels.com to search and book hotels across India owing to the wide breadth of hotel choices and the best price guarantees offered by the brand.