South-east Asia is hot, easy on pocket

BANGALORE: To beat the summer heat, people aren't going too far. They are heading for neighbouring South-east Asian destinations which are drawing flies to a honeypot.According to mosttravel agencies, Bangaloreans are opting for Singapore, Malaysia and Thailandthis summer. It doesn't matter if they have to sweat it out there aswell.Closer home, topping the chart are Coorg, Ooty, Munnar and Wayanad. Some are also opting for Kulu-Manali and Jammu & Kashmir up north.According to founder CEO, HolidayIQ.com, Hari Nair, the highest traffic from Bangalore on his website is for people going to Ooty and Coorg for short trips.Interestingly, 16% of total bookings fromBangalore on his website are for the Andamans and Lakshwadeep Islands. "It'sstrange that people are opting to go to the Andamans in the summer. Ininternational travel, all the traffic is towards South-east Asia despite thesultry weather there. People do a lot of research on these destinations becausethey are far cheaper than Europe. A flight ticket to Europe costs around Rs35,000 while you could get a South-east Asia package for Rs 25,000," hesaid.There are several bookings and enquiries for Kulu-Manali,Jammu, Shimla and Vaishnodevi at Cox & Kings in Bangalore. "As far asinternational destinations are concerned, people are mostly opting for Malaysiaor Singapore and some for Europe," said a travel consultant with Cox &Kings."Leh-Ladakh has become a very popular destination in recenttimes. We're also seeing off-the-beaten track destinations like Bhutan becomingpopular. But a very high volume, around 40% of international travel, is toSouth-East Asia, especially Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore, among others.Bangalore is a high growth market for us and 20 to 25% of total traffic comesfrom here," said senior vice-president, sales and distribution, Makemytrip,Anand Kandai. This company has also started a charter flight to Bhutan fromMumbai this summer. And 14% of its total offtake is fromBangalore.