<ul><li>Varanasi in India, was one of the favourite leisure destinations in 2022, according to <keyword id="2808667" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="oyo" source="Orion">OYO</keyword>. Other destinations were Jaipur, Goa, Kochi and Visakhapatnam. </li><li>India witnessed a 44% increase in booking demand during Christmas week (25th December - 31st December) compared to 2021. </li><li>About 1 million last-minute bookings were made in Malaysia on OYO. </li></ul>The year 2022 was marked by a renewed vigour for travel, with people finally fulfilling the travel dreams that the pandemic put on hold. And this sentiment is accurately reflected in OYO’s Travelopedia 2022- the hospitality technology platform’s year-end annual global travel trends index. As per OYO, Hyderabad in India, Luxembourg in Europe, Bandung in Indonesia, Johor Bahru in Malaysia, Texas in the US, and London were the year’s most-booked destinations. “Remote working offered flexibility to consumers to use their time and explore domestic destinations to make up for their lost vacations. Globally, leisure destinations are leading the travel recovery curve, while in India, we’re seeing business travel also significantly contribute to the sector,” said Shreerang Godbole, global chief service officer, OYO. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Spiritual travel and business trips trend in India" comment="subhead2" text="Spiritual travel and business trips trend in India">Spiritual travel and business trips trend in India</cmsannotation> India’s fourth largest and most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, was the most visited state in 2022. Apart from it, Hyderabad, Delhi, Bangalore, <keyword id="6354925" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="kolkata" source="Orion">Kolkata</keyword> and Chennai were the most-booked cities for business travel, while Jaipur, Goa, Kochi, Varanasi and Visakhapatnam topped the charts as favourite leisure destinations in 2022, according to OYO. Varanasi's ranking in the list of top leisure destinations aligns with the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/varanasi-tirupati-puri-amritsar-are-the-top-travel-spiritual-destinations-in-india-as-per-oyo/articleshow/96394438.cms">rise in spiritual travel </a>this year. After Varanasi, Tirupati, Puri, Amritsar and Haridwar were the most-booked destinations for pilgrimage on OYO. Interestingly, smaller towns and cities such as Hathras, Srinagar in Uttarakhand, Sasaram, Karaikudi and <keyword id="136826" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="tenali" source="Orion">Tenali</keyword> saw the highest increase in bookings in 2022 vs 2021, it added. The festive spirit of Christmas also translated into travel plans, with India witnessing a 44% increase in booking demand during Christmas week (25th December - 31st December) compared to 2021. Destinations such as Goa, Hyderabad, Puri, Manali, and Kolkata emerged as top choices for travellers during this time, stated OYO. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Longs weekend trips and leisure travel dominate globally" comment="subhead2" text="Longs weekend trips and leisure travel dominate globally">Longs weekend trips and leisure travel dominate globally</cmsannotation> OYO also analysed the trends across Europe, the US, the UK, Malaysia and Indonesia, and long weekend trips were common across regions. The Independence Day (July 1-3) weekend in the US, Queen Elizabeth’s platinum jubilee (June 2-4) in the UK and the Eid-Ul-Fitr weekend (May 7-8) in Indonesia were the most-booked weekends in 2022, as per OYO. Moreover, between January and December 2022, Europeans booked more vacation homes outside their own country compared to previous years. Christmas also continued to be a high season across Europe and the UK. This year, the UK observed a 34% uptick in booking demand for Christmas and upcoming New Year's Eve in comparison to 2021, according to OYO. Though Johor Bahru, Kuala Lumpur, Kota Kinabalu witnessed the highest bookings in Malaysia in 2022, Penang Island and Malacca witnessed the highest YoY growth compared to 2021. Malaysia also saw approximately 1 million last-minute bookings on OYO in 2022. As per OYO’s booking trends, in Indonesia, Bandung, Bali, Yogyakarta, Malang and Lampung emerged as the top five leisure destinations in 2022. Jakarta, Tangerang, Surabaya, Bekasi and Medan were the top five business destinations in 2022 in Indonesia. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/10-places-in-india-where-you-can-experience-snowfall/articleshow/96584102.cms">From Auli to Zuluk, 10 places in India where you can experience snowfall</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/delhi-ncr-and-bengaluru-are-indias-biggest-office-markets-in-2022-jll-report/articleshow/96573976.cms">Delhi-NCR and Bengaluru are India’s biggest office markets in 2022: JLL report</a>

Hyderabad, Texas, Bandung and London among most-booked destinations in 2022, as per OYO

Amaravati, Sons of at least six former Chief Ministers of <keyword id="19896313" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="andhra-pradesh" source="keywords">Andhra Pradesh</keyword> will be in the fray for May 13 simultaneous polls to the Andhra Pradesh <keyword id="19906943" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="assembly" source="keywords">Assembly</keyword> and Lok Sabha while daughters of two former Chief Ministers are also likely to join the race. Leading the list of high-profile candidates is the Chief Minister and <keyword id="20270569" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="ysr" source="keywords">YSR</keyword> <keyword id="19895371" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="congress" source="keywords">Congress</keyword> Party (YSRCP) President Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy. The son of the former Chief Minister of erstwhile united Andhra Pradesh late Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy will be seeking re-election from the Pulivendula constituency in YSR family's home district Kadapa. Pulivendula has been considered a pocket borough of the YSR family since 1978. Jagan Mohan Reddy will be seeking re-election from here for a third consecutive term. His sister and state Congress Chief Y. S. Sharmila is likely to enter the fray from the Kadapa Lok Sabha constituency to challenge the sitting MP and cousin Y. S. Avinash Reddy. Kadapa has also been the stronghold of the YSR family since 1989. Children of another former Chief Minister and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) founder N. T. Rama Rao will also be testing their political fortunes. Interestingly, like YSR, the children of <keyword id="20237138" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="ntr" source="keywords">NTR</keyword> will also be contesting on tickets of different parties. NTR's son and popular actor N. Balakrishna will be looking for a hat-trick as MLA from the Hindupur constituency. NTR himself was elected from Hindupur in 1985, 1989 and 1994. His elder son N. Harikrishna was also elected from here in the by-poll held in 1996 following the death of the thespian. NTR's daughter D. <keyword id="21049483" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="purandeswari" source="keywords">Purandeswari</keyword>, who is president of the state BJP, is also likely to contest for Parliament. A former union minister, Purandeswari had quit Congress to join the BJP in 2014 after the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh. TDP and BJP are contesting the polls in alliance with the Jana Sena Party of popular actor <keyword id="20009920" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="pawan-kalyan" source="keywords">Pawan Kalyan</keyword>. Former Chief Minister and TDP President N. Chandrababu Naidu's son <keyword id="19925616" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="nara-lokesh" source="keywords">Nara Lokesh</keyword> will again test his political fortunes from the Mangalagiri Assembly seat. He had unsuccessfully contested the same seat in 2019. Another former Chief Minister <keyword id="21049485" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="nadendla-bhaskar" source="keywords">Nadendla Bhaskar</keyword> Rao's son <keyword id="21049484" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="nadendla-manohar" source="keywords">Nadendla Manohar</keyword> is contesting for Assembly from Tenali on a Jana Sena ticket. Chairman of Jana Sena's Political Affairs Committee, Manohar was elected to the Assembly of the united Andhra Pradesh from Tenail in 2004 and 2009 on the Congress ticket. He had served as the last Speaker of the united Andhra Pradesh Assembly. Earlier, Bhaskar Rao was elected from Tenali on Congress ticket in 1989. Former Chief Minister Kotla Vijayabhaskar Reddy's son Kotla Jayasurya Prakash Reddy will be contesting for Assembly from Dhone constituency. He will take on Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath Reddy of YSRCP. Vijaya Bhaskar Reddy was elected from Dhone on Congress ticket in 1994. Jayasurya Prakash Reddy's wife K. Sujatha Reddy was also elected from the constituency on the Congress ticket in 2004. Former Chief Minister N. Janardhan Reddy's son N. Ramkumar Reddy will be testing his political fortunes from Venkatagiri Assembly constituency on YSRCP ticket. He is making his electoral debut. Janardhan Reddy contested on the Congress ticket from Venkatagiri in 1989. His wife N. Rajyalakshmi had also been elected twice from here in 1999 and 2004.

Next-gen enters poll arena: Sons of 6 ex-CMs in fray in Andhra

New Delhi, Apr 5 () Penguin Random House India has offered a quarantine reading list of books for the coronavirus lockdown period.Among the recommendations for adult fiction are "The Death of Jesus" by JM Coetzee, "The Boy from the Woods" by Harlan Coben, "Soar: A Novel" by Amit Majmudar, "Sarojini's Mother" by Kunal Basu, "Not All Those Who Wander" by Arjun Nath, "Trending in Love" by Pankaj Dubey, "The Girl Who Disappeared" by Vikrant Khanna and "Crown of Seven Stars" by Gitanjali Murari.Some culinary books are also in the reading list - "Uparwali Chai" by Pamela Timms, "Party Like a Star" by Shilarna Vaze, "Bhagwaan Ke Pakwaan" by Varud Gupta and Devang Singh, and Pooja Makhija's "N For Nourish".Non-fiction books include "Bahawalpur" by Anabel Lyod, "The Other Side of the Divide" by Sameer Arshad Khatlani, and "An Officer and his Holiness" by Rani Singh.In sports, some books recommended are "Howzatt Butterfingers" by Khyrunnisa A, "Let's Play!: Puffin Book of Sports Stories" by Harsha Bhogle and "Dear Me", a collection of letters from some of the most-celebrated names in sports by HT Media.There are many books for children too - "The Best of Tenali Raman", "The Girl Who Stole an Elephant" by Nizrana Farook, "Journey to the Forbidden City" by Deepa Agarwal, and "I Hate my Curly Hair" besides few from Penguin's Hook Book Series - "Hey Diddle Diddle" (Anushka Ravishankar), "My Daddy and the Well" (Jerry Pinto), "A Quiet Girl" by Paro Anand, and "Who's There?" by Hansda Sowvendra.Two recommended books for children are science related - "From Leeches to Slug Glue" by Roopa Pai and "Reignited Volume 2" by Srijan Pal Singh. ZMN RDSRDS

Penguin Random House offers quarantine reading list

New Delhi, Dec 2 () Music streaming platform Gaana on Monday said it expects 10 crore podcast streaming per month by March on its platform as it plans to build a portfolio of 3,000 shows in four months, a top company official said.
 Gaana has roped in celebrity Ranvijay Singh, Bollywood actress Sunny Leone, stand-up comedian Zakir Khan and a paranormal investigator Jay Alani for developing the shows, Gaana CEO Prashan Agarwal told .
 "The existing numbers (of podcast listeners) are very low. Our idea is to get the consumption up to about 1 to 1.5 per cent and then build from there," he said.
 "Just to give you a perspective, currently, we do about 3.2 billion streams. On the podcasts, we are looking at getting to about 100 million streams. That could be about 10 crore podcast play-outs per month by March," he added.
 The Times Internet Group firm expects to double the number of monthly active users on its platform to 20 crore in the next two years, representing around 50 per cent share of the overall market.
 Gaana has started expanding non-music content to enhance user engagement on its platform and attract new users.
 The company has started focusing on podcasts after getting traction in three genres -- comedy, storytelling and retro Hindi songs.
 "We have launched about 2,000 podcasts or shows. There the marquee shows are -- 'Life Ki Ranneeti' with Ranvijay Singh, Confessions with Sunny Leone, a show with the biggest stand-up comedian in India Zakir Khan, and a show around horror and paranormal activities with Jay Alani," Agarwal said.
 He said the company will focus extensively on the three genres and on building about 20 original shows with 3,000 podcasts under Gaana Originals over the next 4 months.
 "One of the biggest tractions that we see is going to be comedy, followed by shows targeting kids like Tenali Rama, Katha, Panchatantra, and deep stuff Devdutt Patnaik-type shows," he said.
 The podcasts will remain free for listeners and the company will monetise it through advertising supported model, he added. PRS RVK

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Hyderabad, Texas, Bandung and London among most-booked destinations in 2022, as per OYO

Srishti Magan

Next-gen enters poll arena: Sons of 6 ex-CMs in fray in Andhra

IANS

Penguin Random House offers quarantine reading list

PTI

Gaana plans 3,000 podcasts in 4 months, expects 10 cr streaming per month

PTI