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Janmashtami long weekend gives hope for faster revival of travel industry
Like last year, portals said, this jump can also be attributed to continued decline in Covid cases combined with pent up travel demand and upcoming festive travel season
The Janmashtami long weekend saw more people travelling, giving hope to portals that things could look up for the travel industry. Like last year, portals said, this jump can also be attributed to continued decline in Covid cases combined with pent up travel demand and upcoming festive travel season.
MakeMyTrip, one of the leading portals, said the current booking pattern reflects more confidence, willingness and comfort among travellers to venture out for leisure or work related travel.
EaseMyTrip spokesperson said, “Compared to the period of July 28-30, we have seen a jump of 54% for Aug 28 to 30 in terms of travellers. Users have utilised this extended weekend to travel for leisure.”
“Data on MakeMyTrip indicates a five times increase in travel bookings made this August as compared to last year for the same period. As compared to bookings in the same period last year, hotel bookings for stays more than two days have increased by 20%; and family travel with more than two members has witnessed growth by over seven times,”said Vipul Prakash, chief operating officer of MakeMyTrip.
Prakash said near-term leisure travel bookings are up by 20%, with bookings for travel during the festive dates seeing a jump of 35%.
As per OYO’s August 2021 booking data for August 27 to 30, the global travel technology company has witnessed a 34% surge in leisure travel across the country.
“In India, for the Janmashtami weekend, we have seen an uptick in demand for local travel, wherein consumers are choosing destinations closer to their location or heading to religious cities like Mathura and Vrindavan,” said Yatish Jain, vice president and Chief Growth Officer, OYO (India & South East Asia).
OYO’s booking trends revealed that Jaipur, Goa, Visakhapatnam, Kochi and Udaipur topped India’s most popular leisure destinations among travellers this long weekend. Majority of the demand stemmed from travellers in metro cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, and Bengaluru.
“Among business destinations, Delhi, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bangalore, and Mumbai emerged as the most booked cities,” Jain said.
Amanpreet Bajaj,general manager, Airbnb India, Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and Taiwan said they are seeing a strong demand for travel, particularly to destinations a drive away from metro cities. “Travelers are showing a strong desire for vacations designed around private spaces and unique and immersive experiences. We’ve also seen people continue to embrace more flexible travel. Earlier this year, our YouGov survey showed that 69% of Indians were particularly interested in unique accommodations for their next trip -- such as heritage homes, farm stays, villas and havelis,” said Bajaj.
