According to industry data, August has seen a strong recovery in travel demand among travellers despite high airfares. Air travel during the Diwali and Raksha Bandhan long weekend saw 420,000-450,000 passengers per day on flight departures, and travel portals are also seeing a 17% increase in bookings for the upcoming weekend despite a similar increase in airfares.
Online travel portal Cleartrip reported Mint which saw an 11% increase in total bookings for the travel period of August 14-19, compared to the same period in 2023. The increase in bookings came despite an increase in airfares of 36% for flights to Jaipur, 46% for Lucknow, 35% for Pune, 33% for Mumbai, among others.
“For the Janmashtami weekend, the average fare per passenger has increased by 17.6% compared to last year. We have seen a 16.5% increase in bookings compared to the same advance booking period last year. Overall, there is a 21.4% increase in bookings compared to a typical August weekend,” said Gaurav Patwari, Vice President, Airline Category, Cleartrip.
According to data from the Ministry of Civil Aviation, an average of nearly 442,000 passengers travelled per day between August 14 and 20. This period saw the celebration of Independence Day, Parsi New Year and Raksha Bandhan. The highest daily air traffic during this period was recorded on August 18, when 457,287 passengers were registered, and the highest number of flights during the period was recorded on August 19, with 3,103 flight departures. In July, the average daily air traffic stood at nearly 420,000 passengers.
The long weekend has set new records
“This long weekend was a record-breaking one as flight bookings saw a 40-50% year-on-year increase. Favoured domestic destinations such as Dehradun and Goa topped the list, while international destinations such as Bangkok, Dubai and Bali along with emerging short-haul destinations such as Azerbaijan and Georgia were among the top choices of travellers in terms of bookings and searches,” said Rajnish Kumar, Co-CEO, ixigo Group.
Industry executives expect travel confidence to strengthen further in the next two months with the arrival of festivals such as Ganesh Chaturthi, Onam, Durga Puja, Dusshera and Diwali, among others. However, concerns remain over capacity deployment as global supply chain issues continue to impact the ability of airlines across the world to deploy capacity at a consistent pace.
Multi-channel travel portal Thomas Cook has seen a surge in interest in spiritual and pilgrimage tourism over the upcoming weekend, which marks the start of Janmashtmi on August 26. The portal has also noted a growing trend of travellers taking multiple ‘mini-breaks’ to domestic and short-haul destinations.
Similarly, ixigo is seeing a surge in bookings for destinations like Varanasi, Srinagar and Jaipur from major metropolises for the upcoming weekend.
“We have seen a significant increase in travel by young migrant professionals from India who prefer to return home to celebrate with family and spend time together,” said Indiver Rastogi, President and Group Head, Global Business Travel, Thomas Cook (India) and SOTC Travel.
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