Travellers to and from India seem to be in a wait and watch mode before finalising their summer vacation plans. With more cases of exposure to novel coronavirus (COVID-19) being detected, holiday bookings have turned to temporary reservations and those that are fully refundable.

The Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) has written to foreign airlines so that there is one common policy on refunds and rescheduling of tickets, given that the issue is not economic or political in nature.

Data shows a fall in fresh bookings to affected locations and a 20-30% drop in airfares to south-east Asia, south Europe and Italy. While South Africa seems to be in demand, Australia is less appealing due to the bushfires.

According to AI-based travel app ixigo, Andaman and Nicobar islands, Goa, Pune, Jaipur, Guwahati have seen a 25-30 % increase in interest among those looking to travel this vacation season. TAAI expects Kashmir to be a surprise domestic destination that will open up with specific push from the government along with the Andamans where a spike in booking interest was being seen.

“Currently, there are cancellations and postponement of trips. People are postponing their trip by two months because there is a general confidence that things will tide down by then. How really serious things are no one honestly knows. Our request is that travellers listen to advice from travel agents and government communication,” said TAAI national vice-president Jai Bhatia.

Yatra.com said that due to the prevailing situation of Coronavirus in different locations across the globe, there many destinations across the globe were expected to face a drop in tourist arrivals due to advisories issued by various governments.

“Southeast Asia and Italy being one of the most preferred destinations for Indians, we anticipate a drop of about 20-25% in future bookings, though it is too early to predict,” said Sabina Chopra, co-founder and COO, corporate travel and head industry relations, Yatra.com.

Ms. Chopra explained that people were wary of making fresh bookings to the affected locations and airfares to these destinations have dropped by 20-30%. “We have received about 35% of cancellation queries from travellers planning their trips to foreign locations during holiday season. Summer travel is the peak travel period in India, where travellers with their friends and families look forward to exploring different destinations,” she said.

Yatra.com said it was advising and helping customers to postpone their travel dates. and book their tickets accordingly. “Travellers are now looking at alternate foreign destinations from India, such as Sri Lanka and Bhutan for summer travel. There is a hike in enquires to domestic destinations such as Andaman and Nicobar, Goa, Ujjain and cities in the north-east,” Ms. Chopra said.

ixigo which announced a full refund for all bookings to China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Iran, Italy, Spain, Singapore, South Korea and Japan on Wednesday said that the policy was applicable on both one-way and return bookings for travel dates upto March 31 as several airlines have temporarily suspended/cancelled operations to certain parts of South-East Asia and Europe.

“With public health officials in many countries advising caution against travelling, ixigo has seen a spike in travellers changing their immediate travel plans. “The health and safety of our customers is always our top priority. In the context of this global emergency, we have rolled out a policy to help travellers who wish to cancel or postpone their trips in a hassle free way. We are providing a no-questions asked full refund on the countries most impacted by COVID-19, irrespective of the airline’s own policy, in this regard. We will continue monitoring the situation and extend the waiver, if the need arises,” said Aloke Bajpai, co-founder & CEO, ixigo.

As for the impact of the virus outbreak on travel, Rajnish Kumar, co-founder and CTO, ixigo, reiterated that while a slowdown in the top countries impacted was visible, there was still a demand for travel to other areas. “On the international front, people are still actively booking their vacations to places like Sri Lanka, Maldives, Vietnam, Thailand and Bhutan. We expect the situation to improve closer to the summer travel season,” Mr. Kumar said.