Off-season beckons tourists

Great discounts and low-priced packages are attracting youngsters to travel more.Nineteen-year-old Harshit Shah is just back from a four-day vacation to Mt Abu. Harshit is happy that he managed the trip in a reasonable budget even after staying in a four star hotel. All this was thanks to the great bargain he got. "We got rooms worth Rs 2,200 for Rs 1,500.Now, we'll travel only in the off-season ," he says.
Harshit is among an increasing tribe which has turned into off-season travellers to avail the huge discounts that hotels and tour operators offer during this period . An increasing number of young professionals in Gujarat seem to be opting for offseason travel too.
Documentary film-maker Ruturaj Mistry, who took a Kulu-Manali-Simla tour recently , says he managed great discounts: "The actual slashed rates are available from July, that's when you should travel."
Some even prefer to brave the unfavourable weather to save money. Like Vadodara's Bhumi and Hiral Bhatt, who took a vacation recently. "We took the Shirdi-Mahabaleshwar-Goa package which cost us very little. Not everyone likes cloudy weather on a holiday , but for us it worked out fine," says Hiral, a software professional.
Experts say destinations like Goa and Kerala are very popular for off-season travel, as are most heritage and luxury resorts, which have exorbitant rates and over-bookings in the tourist season. Travel operators/hotels give special offers and freebies to lure travellers during the lean periods from mid-February to mid-April and July-September . Disha Shah Menon, Gujarat sales and marketing head of a top hotel chain, says, "The domestic traveller prefers to avail the low rate benefit in the off-season . These discounted rates also keep hotels occupied through the year."
Ajay Kurseja, a leading travel consultant based in Ahmedabad, says, "International fares go up in the peak season and even hotel rates shoot up by 50 per cent. So to get a good deal as well as local colour, travel during the lean season."
A subsidised, no surcharges , all-meals inclusive package does have the perfect ingredients for a great holiday !
(Inputs by Prerna Shah)
surbhi.gupta@timesgroup .com