With countries easing border restrictions and India set to resume scheduled international flights from 15 March, travel companies expect a rush this summer. According to Thomas Cook India, travel operators have witnessed a fourfold rise in the number of queries in the past 15 days.
Customers have started planning their summer holidays, with Europe, in particular, seeing high demand, the company said.
Rajeev Kale, president and country head, holidays, meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE), visa, Thomas Cook (India), said there are clear signs of a revival with international queries seeing an impressive uptick. “Positive sentiment with the reopening of borders is resulting in a considerable upswing in business from our corporate and MICE sectors," he said.
“Sporting events are of particular value to this sector with growing interest for Formula 1 in Bahrain, the Fifa World Cup in Qatar, and the T20 cricket tournament in Australia. The impending announcement on restarting international commercial aviation will further boost demand and help the sector in early revival," he added.
Thomas Cook said the US is popular for valid visa holders, while Dubai, Abu Dhabi, the Maldives and Sri Lanka are well-liked for special occasions and weekend getaways. Besides, Australia is back on the radar with borders reopening from 22 February, while Turkey, Mauritius and Egypt are also among popular choices, it added.
Travel and holiday firm Sterling Holidays expects this year to be a mixed bag for both short trips and long vacations. The industry did not have a good April-June season for two consecutive years. However, that is likely to change this year, it said.
“Interest in international travel will continue. This will probably go up considering easing travel restrictions across countries. But we are confident that at least one domestic holiday will remain as a preference among most travellers this year," said Vikram Lalvani, chief operating officer, resort operations and customer experience management, Sterling Holidays.
According to a study by community social media platform LocalCircles, 59% of the survey participants planned to travel during March-May. With covid-19 cases on a decline, 12% of the respondents said they were planning to travel in the next 90 days and had booked their tickets and stays, while 18% said they intended to travel but had not booked yet. Furthermore, nearly 29% said they wanted to travel but would decide closer to the travel date, while 29% had no plans for the next three months. LocalCircles interviewed 10,127 people.
Luxury Escapes, a travel operator, said destinations, such as Sri Lanka and Thailand, which were missing for the past two years, are back in the reckoning, accounting for 10% of their bookings. The UAE continues to draw interest even during summer months, as does the Maldives.
For domestic travel, Luxury Escapes is getting bookings with a lead time of 40-60 days, coinciding with the summer holidays period, for destinations like Shimla and Uttarakhand. “The summer of 2022 is expected to be stronger than the past two years," said Arun Ashok, regional head, India and the Middle-East, Luxury Escapes.
