Long weekend ahead: Mumbaiites set sight on hilly retreats to beat the heat
Places with pleasant weather were most preferred among domestic destinations
mumbai Updated: Mar 25, 2018 23:21 IST
With another long weekend around the corner, Mumbaiites are heading to cooler locations to escape the heat of early summer.
While most travel portals said the weekend has seen more bookings, a few confirmed a 15% growth in bookings as compared to an average weekend. Places with pleasant weather were most preferred among domestic destinations. For international trips, travellers preferred destinations with visa on arrival facility.
Ankit Rastogi, vice president-accommodation, Cleartrip, said, “With the school exams just gone-by and the commencement of summer holidays in many places, summer travel plans are already on and people are all set to leverage the long weekend. We saw 117% more hotel bookings for the Good Friday weekend as compared to the next weekend. Most of these are without much advance planning, as reflected by 61% of the bookings being done only in March.”
Thomas Cook said that Gangtok, Auli, Dalhousie, Dharamshala, Manali, Corbett, Nainital were some of the top choices for the weekend. Karan Anand, head, relationships, Cox & Kings, said, “The heat has started picking up in the cities, however, there is still some snow in the hills. The scenic destinations in the north and the north east of India are offering a great escape for the long weekend travellers. Adventure travellers of the Double Income No Kids (DINKs) kind are off to Kashmir and Sikkim.”
The portal said while many are off to the snow-clad mountains, a section of adventure enthusiasts has opted to spend the long weekend near the sea. “As it is a great time to explore the coloured corals, underwater creatures in the crystal-clear waters, both experts and amateurs can be seen headed to the beaches in the upcoming weekend,” Anand added.
According to Thomas Cook, there has been an increase in travel bookings during the long weekend across the country, especially from Mumbai. India witnessed a spike in the 15% for domestic holidays as well as international short-haul destinations compared to the same time last year.
“Compared to the Holi long weekend in March, we have seen a rise in booking across our online platforms revealing the most searched international destinations like Italy, France, Czech Republic, Croatia, Switzerland and Domestic destinations like Andaman,” said Rajeev Kale, president & country head - holidays, MICE, visa and passport services, Thomas Cook.
Daniel D’souza, head of sales, India & NRI markets & e-commerce of SOTC, said, “Destinations such as Thailand, Bali, Mauritius, Bhutan and Sri Lanka are in great demand. Travelers from Mumbai have shown interest in shorter getaways away from the hectic city life. Destinations such as Goa, Kashmir, Mauritius, Bhutan and Sri Lanka are immensely popular amongst Mumbaikars.”