This year, Thursday, Independence Day, followed by Raksha Bandhan on Monday, offer a perfect getaway for travellers. “Our latest data reveals robust travel demand over the Independence Day long weekend, with strong sentiment for domestic destinations,” said Anuj Rathi, chief business and growth officer at online travel agency Cleartrip.
Destinations such as Puducherry, Udaipur and Munnar have witnessed a phenomenal surge in hotel bookings for the Independence Day weekend, with increases of 760%, 441% and 321% respectively compared to the average bookings in the previous three weeks, data obtained by Cleartrip showed.
Other popular choices include Ooty, Goa, Jaipur and Lonavala, all of which are seeing substantial growth in bookings.
“Indians are travelling like never before and our data indicates that they are making the most of every opportunity and turning it into mini-vacations,” said Rajeev Kale, President and Country Head, Visa Holidays and MICE, Thomas Cook (India) Ltd. “Domestic and closer destinations are seeing increased interest, not just from families or multi-generational families, but also from our young professional or millennial and couples segments.”
Flight bookings soar
Airlines have witnessed a significant increase in flight bookings, including for international travel. Bookings for international destinations such as Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Singapore and Bali were up 56.8%, 34.7%, 33.6% and 15.6% respectively compared to the previous four weeks, Cleartrip data showed.
On the other hand, Jaipur and Udaipur emerged as the most popular domestic destinations with bookings up 73% and 63% respectively.
Some visa-friendly destinations are also on travellers’ wish lists. “Short-haul, visa-friendly destinations such as Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Dubai-Abu Dhabi, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Bhutan and Vietnam top our online searches,” said Kale.
That said, airfares on some highly-sought routes sent passengers into a frenzy due to the Independence Day rush. For instance, on August 9, the lowest ticket price for the same-day Delhi-Goa flight was ₹6,160. It shot up to ₹9,147 for a flight on August 14 and fell sharply again to ₹5,604 for a flight on August 23. Similarly, the lowest ticket price for a flight from Bengaluru to Goa on August 9 was ₹3,989, for a flight on August 14 ₹5,705 and for a flight on August 23 ₹3.898.
Will this revive domestic tourism?
Experts are optimistic. “The notable rise in flight bookings to destinations such as Jaipur, Udaipur and Leh reflects a strong desire to travel, despite the marginal increase in airfares. The sustained interest in travel indicates a greater tendency towards exploration among Indian travellers,” Rathi said.
Moreover, the country’s domestic travel industry is already recovering strongly and almost reaching pre-pandemic levels. Domestic tourist arrivals, which plummeted to 610 million in the pandemic-hit year 2020 after reaching 2.32 billion in 2019, have recovered to 2.51 billion in 2023, according to government data.
However, investor sentiment towards tourism-related stocks remains mixed. Stocks belonging to the Nifty India Tourism Index had a mixed fortune over the past week and month. While three stocks gained, 15 fell. Safari Industries India led with a weekly rise of 6.7 per cent and a monthly rise of 12.1 per cent. Jubilant Foodworks followed with gains of 5.2 per cent and 9.8 per cent, respectively. However, Lemon Tree Hotels registered a weekly fall of 17.1 per cent and a monthly fall of 21.7 per cent. EIH and Chalet Hotel were also affected, falling 2.2 per cent and 3.8 per cent over the week, and 12.1 per cent and 6.2 per cent over the month, respectively.
Good news for the hotel sector
The surge in demand is expected to benefit the hospitality sector, especially the luxury segment, which is coming back to life with a vengeance, with occupancy rates and average room rates having soared in the two years since the pandemic. “Most importantly, this reflects the changing lifestyles of consumers, who are not price-sensitive and are willing to upgrade to enjoy differentiated experiences,” a report by Nirmal Bang noted.
“We believe that encouraging macroeconomics, coupled with sector tailwinds, should allow the hotel industry to grow both in terms of occupancy and rates,” he added.
The report also highlighted that branded hotel supply in the top eight cities grew at a compound annual rate of just 2% between 2017-18 and 2022-23, and even future supply is expected to grow by almost 4% compared to a demand of 8% over the next five years in these cities.
Shuja Asrar contributed to this story.
Disclaimer:
The information contained in this post is for general information purposes only. We make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability with respect to the website or the information, products, services, or related graphics contained on the post for any purpose.
We respect the intellectual property rights of content creators. If you are the owner of any material featured on our website and have concerns about its use, please contact us. We are committed to addressing any copyright issues promptly and will remove any material within 2 days of receiving a request from the rightful owner.