Time for a holi-day! 50% rise in bookings for Holi weekend

The trend of going on holiday over long weekends continued this week as well. Bookings for the Holi weekend starting on Friday jumped by 50% in comparison to last year, said travel companies.

The trend of going on holiday over long weekends continued this week as well. Bookings for the Holi weekend starting on Friday jumped by 50% in comparison to last year, said travel companies.

Short trips around the time of Holi were witnessed last year as well, as the public holiday fell on a Monday.

Travel portal Cleartrip, for instance, saw a 44% rise in bookings. “The affinity for power naps between work schedules seems to be peaking, especially if it is reason enough to break routine, get away and rejuvenate,” said Samyukth Sridharan, president and chief operating officer, Cleartrip.

He said more than 66% travellers planned the Holi weekend travel 15 to 90 days before the date of departure. “This showed 32% growth in advance holiday planning for this weekend.”

“We have seen a 30-33% surge in travel this Holi weekend. People are choosing to celebrate the festival outside their city, either in resorts or at famous destinations such as Jaipur, Mathura, Vrindavan and Barsana,” said Vikram Malhi, managing director, Asia, Expedia, a travel portal.

The short holiday period also saw an increase in trips aboard, said travel operators. “We are seeing fresh destinations such as Flanders, Switzerland, Luzern, and Japan emerging on the radar, while Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Macau, Dubai and Korea continue to be favourites,” said Jatinder Paul Singh, senior vice-president and head of sales and distribution, Leisure Travel (Outbound) with Thomas Cook India. He added that foreign trips during the period rose by 22%.

“Domestic airlines in the last two years have been offering sale every two months. This has fuelled the demand for domestic weekend holidays at affordable rates. This is popular among double income no kids (DINK) families who can take a break when they wish,” said Karan Anand, head, relationships, Cox & Kings Ltd.