PremiumThe travel plans come ahead of the August and September holidays for festivals such as Rakhi, Janmashtmi, Independence Day, Onam and Ganesh Chaturthi, also fuelling pent up demand for leisure travel.
NEW DELHI : Indians plan to travel either to meet friends and family or for a much-needed break later this year despite looming fears of a third wave of the covid pandemic, according to travel agents as well as a survey conducted by community social media platform LocalCircles.
The travel plans come ahead of the August and September holidays for festivals such as Rakhi, Janmashtmi, Independence Day, Onam and Ganesh Chaturthi, also fuelling pent up demand for leisure travel.
While bringing good news for the travel and hospitality industry, there are also apprehensions that a spurt in travel may actually speed up the pandemic’s third wave.
Tour operators Thomas Cook (India) and SOTC said the upcoming festive season is seeing encouraging interest, with demand upwards of 35% over last year. Thomas Cook has launched Durga Puja specials, with offers such as book one-get one free and a free staycation.
“There’s been a strong uptick of over 50% in queries in merely a couple of days. While Indians typically travel home to be with family to celebrate festivals, this year, pent-up demand appears to be driving appetite for destinations such as Ladakh, Kashmir and Andamans, rather than home stations. Despite limited reopening of borders, Indians are keen to travel to Russia, Maldives, Mauritius, Egypt, and based on recent announcements on Covishield (vaccine) acceptance, to Switzerland and France, too," said Rajeev Kale, president and country head-holidays, MICE, Visa, Thomas Cook (India).
SOTC India is offering select tours, which include special festive meals and a vegetarian menu to create the festival ambience while on holiday.
“Demand is coming primarily from family and extended family who prefer our group escorted tours or ad-hoc group products; equally young working professionals and millennials. Our outdoor and experiential range—hiking, trekking, biking with stays in tents or a fort or a plantation villa in tea and coffee estates—is seeing strong interest," said Daniel D’souza, president and country head, leisure, SOTC Travel.
These trends are in line with a recent LocalCircles survey which said 28% of Indians intend to travel in the upcoming festive months of August and September. Only 5% of citizens surveyed, however, have booked their tickets and accommodation.
The survey received more than 18,000 responses from people in 311 districts—42% from tier-I, 29% from tier-II and 29% from tier- III, -IV and rural districts.
According to the report, among those who plan to travel during this period, 54% expect to visit family and friends, 26% to holiday destinations and 32% will undertake other kinds of travel. “Twenty-eight percent could amount to 200-250 million adults travelling during this period as the survey findings included tier III, tier-IV and rural districts, thereby suggesting that this is not just the metro residents travelling," said Sachin Taparia, founder of LocalCircles.
But, equally, this level of non-essential travel can speed up the onset of the third wave, and the government needs to start creating awareness about non-essential travel, the report said.
“Based on what was seen a year ago when cases surged after Rakhi in Delhi, Ganesh Puja in Mumbai and Onam in Kerala, it is likely that if this travel is not limited, we may see a surge again," said Taparia.
“We are sensitizing the central and state government stakeholders and hope that they will urge citizens to minimise all non-essential travel or even implement restrictions especially where cases are rising."
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