Travel Guides & Articles

Thinking of borrowing for your next foreign trip? Here’s why you shouldn’t

Published

2 days ago

September 12, 2025

India’s growing appetite for international travel is fuelling a new borrowing trend among young Indians. Ashish Singhal, Co-founder of CoinSwitch and Lemonn (for stocks and MFs), warned in a LinkedIn post that many are taking on substantial debt to fund short-term trips.

“One in four Indians took a loan to go on vacation last year,” Singhal said. Loans for popular destinations can be hefty: Rs 2 lakh for Bali, Rs 1.5 lakh for Thailand, and Rs 3 lakh for a “once-in-a-lifetime” Europe tour.

This trend is particularly visible in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities. “71% of these borrowers are from Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities. These are the same cities where people used to save for months just to visit relatives in Mumbai. Now they’re borrowing lakhs to post sunset photos from Santorini,” he wrote.

Gen Z is leading the charge, with their participation rising sharply. “Gen Z is leading this madness. Their share jumped from 14% to 29% in just two years,” Singhal said.

The financial implications are striking. A two lakh loan at 18% interest comes with an EMI of Rs 5,079 for five years, adding up to roughly Rs 3.05 lakh for a seven-day trip. “That’s Rs 40,000 extra. For Instagram stories,” he noted.

Singhal contrasted this with previous generations, saying, “Your parents called buying train tickets ‘splurging’. You call borrowing two lakh rupees ‘living your best life’.” He also compared vacation loans to the earlier Buy Now, Pay Later schemes. “BNPL made us buy stuff we couldn’t afford. Now vacation loans make us travel to places we can’t afford.”

He advised a more disciplined approach to travel spending. By creating a travel fund and setting aside five thousand rupees a month, one could save enough for a Bali trip in six to eight months without paying interest.

Booking flights early can provide discounts equivalent to EMI costs, while using credit cards responsibly can earn miles or vouchers without creating debt.

Singhal’s post underlines a shift in spending behaviour among India’s youth, who increasingly prioritise experiences over traditional savings, sometimes at the risk of long-term financial stability.

– Ends

Published By:

Koustav Das

Published On:

Sep 12, 2025

Source link

Up Next

Trip.Biz launches Trip.Biz ONE for travel management

Don't Miss

Travel Food Services shares in focus on license for lounge operations at India’s 8th busiest airport

India Today Business Desk

Click to comment

Travel Guides & Articles

UAE-India travel: New Mumbai airport to offer passengers more flights, pricing options

Published

16 minutes ago

September 14, 2025

Waheed Abbas

Mumbai’s new international airport will open for passengers on September 30, giving UAE and GCC travellers more choices in pricing and flight options.

The Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA) will handle 90 million passengers annually once fully completed.

By 2032, Mumbai’s two airports – Navi Mumbai and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) – will handle between 140 million and 160 million passengers annually. These two airports will place the Indian financial capital along with global aviation hubs such as Dubai, New York, and London, which have twin airport models.

Stay up to date with the latest news. Follow KT on WhatsApp Channels.

Dubai houses Dubai International (DXB) and Al Maktoum International Airport; London is home to Heathrow and Gatwick, while New York houses JFK and Newark airports.

The twin Mumbai airports will boost connectivity and allow UAE and Indian carriers to increase flights between Mumbai and the UAE, as well as other countries.

These increased frequencies will provide additional opportunities to the Indian nationals and other tourists travelling between the UAE and Mumbai.

A welcome boon

Saj Ahmad, chief analyst at StrategicAero Research, said the new Mumbai airport, Navi Mumbai International Airport, will be a welcome boon for airlines that operate between India and the UAE, particularly with a large number of Indian nationals working in and across the UAE.

“This will mean more flight options and ostensibly, more pricing choice as well – between a mix of full-service airlines like Emirates, Etihad Airways, and Air India, as well as greater competition between flydubai, Air Arabia, Akasa Air, Air India Express, and IndiGo,” said Ahmad.

In June, India’s Akasa Air announced a deal with Adani Airport Holdings Ltd. (AAHL) to commence commercial flight operations from the upcoming Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA).

Akasa Air will operate 100-plus weekly domestic departures initially, scaling up to 300-plus domestic and over 50 international departures weekly in the winter schedule. The airline is also set to ramp up to 10 parking bases by the end of the 2027 fiscal year, with a focused international expansion into key Middle Eastern and Southeast Asian markets.

The latest data show that the number of Indians living in the UAE and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries has crossed nine million. In the UAE alone, there are 3.7 million Indian nationals.

India remained Dubai International airport’s (DX) largest country market in the first half of 2025 with 5.9 million passengers.

Long-term issue

However, Saj Ahmad pointed out that the bigger long-term issue for NMIA is its eastern location to Mumbai.

“Transport links are nowhere near as modern or efficient enough to move people to and from Navi Mumbai International Airport to downtown Mumbai, whereas the existing airport is a lot closer – it may well be that some passengers elect to avoid Navi Mumbai International Airport in order to save time and money commuting centrally. Given the length of time it takes to get infrastructure projects off the ground, NMIA has it all to do in terms of pulling in traffic – there’s no question it will be a good second airport – but is it enough to be the best?,” he said.

“This is the same quagmire that Sydney faces with the new West Sydney International airport, which is almost 60km away from downtown Sydney – whereas Sydney Kingsford Smith International is just minutes away and has far better infrastructure too,” said Saj Ahmad.

Source link