It’s neither the serene beaches of Goa nor Paradise on Earth, Kashmir, that lured domestic tourists this year. Three cheers to God’s Own Country; Kerala is the ‘top trending’ travel destination, according to Google Zeitgeist for India in 2012.
Interestingly, Google’s year-end search report for India also features Munnar in the ninth position in the list of travel destinations. The search trend among Indian users featuring ‘Kerala’ and ‘Munnar’ is an indicator of growing interest of domestic tourists towards the state.
Google terms ‘trending topics’ as search queries which have highest amount of traffic over a sustained period in 2012 as compared to 2011.
Kashmir is in the fifth position, while Goa has not found a place in the top 10. ‘Kerala’ is followed by Taj Mahal, the monument of love. Wagah Border, the lone road border-crossing between Pakistan and India, is in the third position, followed by Vaishno Devi temple and Amarnath. Shirdi, Rameswaram temple hold seventh and eighth position. Gateway of India is in the 10th position. Among the trending searches, IBPS, which conducts recruitment for 19 banks, tops the list. Porn actor Sunny Leone, who made debut appearance in Bollywood this year, was the most searched personality in Google. Google Zeitgeist has list of top searched words, people, movies, cities, local places, news and travel destinations.
In the global list, Whitney Houston tops the list as her accidental drowning shocked many. Hurricane Sandy, which had devastating effects on the US, was another top searched event.