Covid-19 blast: Only 19% people plan to undertake festive travel in Oct-Nov

Nagpur: With Durga puja, Dussehra, Diwali and Chhath festival — all typically falling in October-November, people in many parts of the country plan their travel back home or vacations during this time. This year, however, looks drastically different with only 19% citizens saying they will undertake festive travel this year.
India crossed the 4 million case mark with daily caseload approximately rising to 90,000. Due to the fast spreading Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns people have been cautious about travel.
A latest survey by LocalCircles, which was conducted in 239 districts getting 25,000 responses from people, reveals only 19% citizens are keen to undertake festive travel this year. Of those who travel, only 23% say they will travel by a flight while others said car/taxi is expected to be most preferred mode of travel. Most of them do not want to make bookings till their travel date.
Though India opened domestic air and train travel in June, the daily caseload has grown 10 times during this period. Even as Unlock 4 came into effect on September 1, with quarantine restrictions now removed by most states, many are unwilling to travel.
On kind of travel people plan to undertake in the coming festive season (Oct-Nov-Dec 2020), 69% respondents said they will not be travelling this year and would stay at home while 3% said they will travel to a holiday destination, 13% said they will visit family and friends. Another 3% said they will do both and 12% were unsure about what they would do.
“This means that only 19% citizens say they will travel during the festive season. Many people have either been confined to their homes or have been working from home for the past 6 months and are desperate to get out and travel, but the fear of contracting the virus is pulling them back,” says Akshay Gupta, general manager, LocalCircles, Delhi.
When asked about their preferred mode of travel, 23% said their primary mode of travel will be flights, 6% said trains and 38% said they will travel by road and take a car or taxi while 18% said they will take multiple modes in the same or different trips and 15% were unsure.
“Given the Covid-19 pandemic, it looks like car/taxi would be the most preferred mode of travel in the months when the country sees highest number of travellers. Scheduled international commercial passenger flights have been banned by the government further till September 30 and many states within India also have been restricting the daily number of flights or flights coming in from certain states to contain the spread of the infection,” says Gupta.
When asked if they had booked their travel for this festive season, a majority 68% said ‘no’ and said they will not book till “closer to the travel date” while 16% said “no but will book soon” and 16% were still unsure about it.
Train booking is opened 120 days prior to departure and in normal times tickets are usually sold out within a couple of days during this time before the festive season. But given Covid-19, many want to stay put in their homes and avoid travel as much as possible.
Based on the survey findings, service providers in the road transportation sector may want to build capacity to seize the festival demand uptick. Similarly, online travel portals may want to consider more providers for outstation rental cars and taxi services. Airlines and Indian Railways may need to carefully evaluate any capacity increases they may be planning, keeping in mind the findings.