Happy Holi vibes in the air! Indian travellers are the most keen to program their future travel, American Express has shared in its not too long ago released Global Travel Trends Report. Not only are Indians daydreaming about their travel plans but there is a clear surge of travellers to love the festive Holi weekend. Not just in metro cities but tier II and tier III cities are witnessing a sharp spike in travel demand for the Holi weekend as persons look forward to check out their hometowns and catch up with loved ones.
Hotels in hill stations such as Lansdowne, Nainital, Kasauli, Mussoorie, Shimla and Nature centric destinations such as Jim Corbett are nearly completely booked for the extended Holi weekend. There is a clear preference for domestic travel as festive celebrations are now muted and persons do not want to remain at dwelling on festive occasions and extended weekends.
However, RateGain finds that bookings have declined to about 18 per cent due to the following aspects:
- Financial year ending: Since it is the finish of the economic year, persons are busy with their closings.
- Exams: Another element is exams due to which households are not traveling
- COVID: Cases are increases thus persons are attempting to keep away from traveling
- While locations like Mashobra (225%), Bharuch (139%) and Thiruvananthapuram (one hundred%) witnessed a spike in bookings, RateGain claims a sharp decline in bookings for Pondicherry, Delhi-NCR, Lucknow and Pune, amongst other cities .
Holi extended weekend: Which Indian cities are seeing more travellers?
Rajiv Subramanian, Vice President, Cleartrip tells TheSpuzz Online, “
Broadly the trend of ‘going back home’ is reasonably strong on account of Holi/Good Friday. This is explained by sectors like Guwahati, Bagdogra and Patna seeing an increase in traffic with a lot of last minute bookings. Meanwhile, routes from major cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad to Goa continue to feature in the top routes. Srinagar is another airport that has seen interest with routes between Mumbai-Srinagar and Delhi-Srinagar featuring in the top 10 routes. With summer vacations approaching, demand is expected to see a strong surge assuming the current demand uncertainty tapers out.”
Holi weekend travel trends: What does the enhanced demand imply for ticketing platforms?
TheSpuzz Online spoke to major stakeholders in the travel sector to curate their views on the emerging travel trends for the extended Holli weekend and the Good Friday weekend.
Sripad Vaidya, Co-Founder & COO, Confirmtkt told TheSpuzz Online, “While ticketing platforms see an overall increase of 20,000 bookings per day, on our platform, we have witnessed a spike of overall 650 bookings per day for the upcoming Holi – long weekend. Delhi, Mumbai, and Bangalore are some of the places from where bookings have been coming in as people plan to move back to their hometowns (Tier II & III cities) and places like Pushkar, Goa, Mathura/Vrindavan received the most traction being popular for Holi celebrations.”
Travel trends for Holi weekend: Which is the prime leisure location?
Sharing more information on the prime domestic destinations and accommodation sorts booked by Indian travellers from March 27, 2021 to April 4, 2021 to celebrate Holi and Easter holidays, Booking.com has revealed that Goa has emerged as the most booked location, followed by New Delhi, Jaipur, Rishikesh and Mumbai for the identical period. Besides hotel bookings, most travellers are opting for resorts, guest homes and dwelling stays as properly. Booking.com has also rolled out its ‘Early 2021 Deal’ for choose properties. This suggests that travellers can save 20% or more, according to Booking.com’s most current press release.
Top booked accommodation sorts by Indian travellers
According to the booking information shared by Booking.com, the prime 5 accommodation list for the Holi and Easter weekends are as follows.
- Hotel
- Resort
- Guest House
- Hostel
- Homestay
Meanwhile, American Express not too long ago released its complete Global Travel Trends Report, which delivers exclusive insights pertaining to traveller sentiments one year immediately after the lockdown and the pandemic started. The report spans seven nations which includes India.
Holi weekend travel trends: Pent up travel demand , Indians keen to program future travel
According to American Express Banking Corp. India’s CEO & SVP, Manoj Adlakha, “The Amex Trendex shows pent up travel demand and behaviours that are somewhat unique to the Indian market, with 91 per cent Indian respondents interested in choosing a trip that supports the local community, showing their understanding of the impact of the pandemic on the travel industry. Indians are the most keen to plan for future travel.”
Notably, American Express Banking Corp. India revamped their airport lounge in Delhi to make worth enhancements that are important for their Platinum Card solution holders and to make certain ideal-in-class access as properly as expertise to their Cardmembers.
While travel trends and uptick in demand poses an nearly rosy image, one year immediately after the lockdown, India’s tourism and hospitality sector underwent its bleakest phase.
Holi travel trends: All is nonetheless not properly for travel and tourism
At the not too long ago concluded BITB conclave attended by more than 150 delegates and crucial stakeholders spanning the travel and tourism sector, the Hotel Association of India (HAI) highlighted the need to have to make tourism more viable, accessible and sustainable for all to revert back on the track of recovery.
Also Read: Mahindra Holidays sees development in domestic leisure tourism, plans Rs 1,200-cr infra boost
Highlighting the need to have for the private sector and the state governments to work collectively for revival of the domestic tourism sector, HAI emphasised on the need to have for focused efforts to ease domestic travel with precise measures such as integrated taxation policy, extra taxation relief to market tourism, provide institutional access to working capital that will defer loan repayments for all segments and allow liquidity as properly, amongst other points.
With Holi and Good Friday weekends indicating a clear surge in domestic travel, the silver lining is that Indian travellers are now keen to assistance regional communities. May the tribe of such travellers continue to responsibly develop!