Airfares soar, Mumbai-Goa return at Rs 15,000, Kochi Rs 28,000

MUMBAI: Airfares have been on the higher side for months now, but demand for air travel has picked up due to the forthcoming Independence Day long weekend. Fares have likewise soared further north in the past few days.
This Independence Day, weekend travel is expected to peak. "Nearly 60% respondents said they will take leave from work to make the extended long weekend a mega weekend by clubbing the Raksha Bandhan-Independence Day holidays," said OYO, an online hotel booking site citing its recent survey.

But air travel this weekend is an expensive affair. For instance, for travel this weekend to Goa, the cheapest return fare on non-stop flights from Mumbai began at Rs 15,000 on Wednesday. It cost Rs 14,300 a day earlier, on Tuesday. Similarly, the cheapest Mumbai-Kochi fare began at Rs 28,000 on Wednesday while it cost Rs 26,500 on Tuesday.
But those who booked their trip over two weeks in advance paid comparatively less. "We're witnessing a solid forward booking for the Raksha Bandhan-Independence Day long weekend. As of August 2, we had up to 40,000 forward flight bookings for the extended weekend and approximately 700 hotel bookings (August 11-15)," said Rikant Pittie, co-Founder, EaseMyTrip. "Among the destinations that have witnessed heavy bookings are Goa, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Coorg, and Kerala, all thanks to the monsoon. The top three routes seeing heavy traffic are Goa, Rajasthan, and Kerala," he added.
Vipul Prakash, COO, MakeMyTrip, said: "Travel sentiment for this period is highly positive-with bookings for the upcoming long-weekend surpassing bookings made during the long-weekend around Good Friday, this year. Goa, Udaipur, Jaipur, Pondicherry, Lonavala, Wayanad, Ooty and Rishikesh are some of the most booked destinations. On the international front, people are opting for short-haul travel to Singapore, Thailand and Dubai. Close on the heels are Bali, Istanbul and London that are seeing a spike in bookings for the period."
The OYO survey said: "This long weekend, heading out on short trips to local destinations still remains the top choice among travellers (43%). During short haul trips, a majority of travellers (36%) prefer to sit back and relax at destinations surrounded by nature. Besides this, 26% also prefer taking up adventure sports activities during their mini vacations; 18% respectively prefer visiting historical and monumental sites, as well as exploring new cuisines."