Forward travel bookings and queries for Ayodhya are seeing a “strong” response, with flights for January 22 almost 80% booked, said an airline executive. Airline executives pointed out that for short haul travel, they were expecting about 15% late bookings primarily in the next five to seven days.
“Some people are avoiding travel on the first day, expecting a rush and they plan to visit later,” the executive cited above said, adding that for the whole month, flights are almost 90% full.
He pointed out that there could be some postponement of travel plans and some travellers would prefer travelling by train due to high airfares for January 22, the day of the temple inauguration.
IndiGo and Air India Express had launched flights to Ayodhya immediately after the airport’s opening on December 30.
Both airlines now connect Ayodhya to Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Kolkata. Sources said that in February, Akasa Air will launch flights to the temple town from Delhi.”Given the comparatively small visitor base for Ayodhya previously, we see a 5X upside in searches year-on-year and are already recording 4X more bookings as compared with last year,” said MakeMyTrip group CEO Rajesh Magow. “Expectedly, the duration of January 10-22 is seeing a sharp increase in bookings.””Room night bookings in Ayodhya are almost 10% of the top pilgrimage sites in the country, so the potential for growth is significant. “Ayodhya is poised to become one of the major spiritual destinations of the country,” he added.
MakeMyTrip has launched an Ayodhya charter train package that is scheduled for February 15. The package will include live bhajan mandalis on the charter train and VIP darshan assistance at the Ram mandir in Ayodhya and the Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi.
Gaurav Patwari, VP, air category at Cleartrip, said the company is seeing a 6X increase in searches for Ayodhya compared with the first half of December.
Rajeev Kale, president and country head for holidays, MICE, Visa at Thomas Cook (India), said the temple inauguration has resulted in “exponential” growth in demand for the destination, and the company’s data indicates over 300% increase in searches for Ayodhya in December compared with October.
“Given the limited hotel inventory, customers are inclined to look at day trips to Ayodhya and are booking accommodations in Lucknow and Prayagraj,” he said.
ET had reported on December 6 that chains such as Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL), Marriott International, Sarovar Hotels & Resorts and Wyndham Hotels & Resorts have signed hotels at the destination. However, most of the organised supply will only come in post-2024, as per estimates shared by industry insiders.
Dhruv Shringi, CEO and whole-time director of Yatra Online Ltd, said the company has seen a 70% surge in booking queries related to Ayodhya compared with December.
“Once the Ram temple in Ayodhya is officially inaugurated later this month, footfalls to the city are anticipated to increase multifold,” he said. “Our customers will benefit from spiritual packages to Ayodhya starting from Rs 14,990 per person.”
Daniel D’Souza, president and country head for holidays at SOTC Travel, said the company’s demand trends indicate increased interest for the destination from customers across segments.
