A rising dollar and plummeting rupee have brought about a change in travel preferences among Indians for the upcoming holiday season. Travellers wishing to visit abroad are looking at options where the currency exchange value is favourable for the Indian rupee.
South African Tourism, for example, is reporting higher interest from Indian travellers.
“With economically attractive rate of the rand (ZAR) to INR, South Africa has increasingly become an appealing proposition for Indian tourists. India is currently our eighth largest international source market and sits within the high-potential growth bracket for us at South African Tourism. Since the South African product quote comes in ZAR and not USD, Indian travellers are able to buy more experiences and activities for less money,” said Neliswa Nkani, Hub Head for Middle East, India and Southeast Asia, South African Tourism.
South Africa had 97,921 Indian visitors from January to December, 2017, and is expecting the number to hit the 104,000-mark this year.
Karan Anand, head, relationships, Cox & Kings Ltd., said though the change in travel pattern was not significant at present, travellers were looking at various options. “Those who wish to take advantage of the rising dollar can holiday in destinations such as Turkey, South Africa, and Egypt where the currencies have weakened against the dollar. In Asia, currencies of countries such as Vietnam and Cambodia have also seen a weakness compared with the USD,” he said.
Tour operators said not many Indian travellers were cancelling travel plans abroad altogether either. “Those who travel to overseas destinations do so as they have not visited a particular country or maybe planning a trip for the first time. In these instances, there are not likely to scale back from an international to a domestic destination,” said an operator.
S. Mahalingaiah, director, Skyway International Travels, said people usually choose the country they want to visit first, and then look at the currency value and exchange rate. “The rising dollar will have an impact to an extent, but not a large one. Those who have made up their mind will go ahead with their plans,” he said.
The bigger impact, Mr. Mahalingaiah said, is the increase in fuel prices for the domestic tourism market. “People are not ready to pay more. For example, if we were charging ₹10 per km earlier, and plan to charge even ₹1 extra considering the fuel price increase, people are not willing to pay. This will hit us really bad,” he said.