Flight bookings to popular domestic destinations have increased by 60%, leading to fully booked hotels across many regions. Bookings to popular international destinations such as Thailand and Georgia are also up by 70-80%, industry data shows.
“Travel has become a necessity. The upcoming festival season is witnessing strong demand for both domestic and international trips,” said Rajeev Kale, country head for leisure travel and MICE at Thomas Cook (India). “Noteworthy trends reflected in our booking data indicate that customers are willing to increase their travel spends by 10-15% YoY” along with a growing preference for longer stays, shifting from typical 3-day trips to 6-15 days, he said.
Airfares on specific, high-demand routes have seen a year-on-year increase of up to 25%, industry executives said.
Strong Demand in Tier-2 Cities
“The most searched domestic leisure destinations for Diwali include Lucknow, Jaipur, Varanasi, and Dehradun, with a 60% rise in flight bookings,” said Aloke Bajpai, Group CEO of ixigo.He said airfares for specific routes such as Bengaluru to Lucknow, Bengaluru to Jaipur, and Delhi to Varanasi have seen a year-onyear increase of 20-25% even as average airfares across key routes are down 20-25% for the last week of October, ahead of Diwali. “The 15% drop in oil prices this year may have contributed to this downward trend, offering travellers more affordable options during the festive season,” he added.Travel portal MakeMyTrip said there is a strong travel demand to many tier-2 and tier-3 cities. “Visiting friends and relatives remains a major driver of this trend,” a company spokesperson said. Data from its rival Cleartrip shows hotel bookings have surged across various cities, with Bengaluru and Amritsar seeing spikes of 2.2 times and 3.0 times, respectively.
The surge in domestic travel has led to many super-premium and boutique hotels being fully booked, especially in tourist hotspots like Jaipur, Udaipur, Rishikesh and Coorg. “Our top domestic destinations for the festive season include Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, the Andaman Islands, Kerala, Rajasthan, Goa, and the Northeast,” said Kale of Thomas Cook. Nearby international locations such as Sri Lanka and Bhutan are also gaining traction. “International favourites include Dubai, Thailand, Malaysia, and several European destinations,” he said.
