City shies away from international holidays, opts for domestic tours

GURGAON: The volatile market condition and depreciating value of the Indian rupee have adversely affected the travel plans of Gurgaonites this festive season.
International holiday tours have especially taken a hit, with majority of the travel enthusiasts opting for the domestic holidays, said city-based travel agencies and experts in tourism business.An official from the Club Mahindra Travel said that while last year, 1,200 people from NCR chose to spend the last week of December at different international holiday destinations at Mahindra’s hotels and resorts, this year only 350 people have made their bookings with them, so far.
Even though the number is estimated to rise to 550 by the end of next week, it is nowhere close to last year. As for domestic tourism, in 2010, about 1,600 people from NCR spent the last week of December in holiday destinations accross India, while this year 1,400 people have already booked domestic packages and the number is likely to rise to 1,800 by the end of next week.
Puja Sharma of WelGrow Travels said that there is a decline of almost 33% in the number of tourists opting for international holidays during Christmas and New Year. “Going by our bookings, Goa’s Sunburn festival and beach parties are a major attraction, followed by the backwaters of Kerala,” she added.
While the recent hike in the Delhi airport’s development fee — Rs 1,413 per international ticket and Rs 221 per domestic ticket — have pushed the air fare further, those who had booked the holidays earlier stand to gain.
However, like Sameer Khurana, who booked tickets for Australia three months ago, said, they didn’t factor in the depriciating value of rupee at that time. While the unstable markets have definitely affected the international holidays, it has not deterred people from making the most of the holiday season.
“Indians love to travel and have fun. And this time of the year, whatever be the market scenario, there is always a boom in the travel and tourism business,” said Reshma Singh of Jetways Travels.
For those who are headed for international holidays, poor market scenario nonwithstanding, places like Bali, Hong Kong and Australia have come up as their most favoured destinations.
There are some surprise destinations also that have become a hit with such travellers. “This year our packages for Uzbekistan, Tashkent in Russia have also done very well,” said Zaman of Labana Travels, who had put up a travel stall in Galleria market to attract potential tourists.
While the ever popular Goa remains a top favourite this holiday season too, those who want to experience a magical, snowy holiday, without burning a hole in their pocket os opting for hill stations closer home, like Manali, Shimla, Mussoorie and Nainital.
“I have just got the weekend off so I’ll celebrate New Year in India. I’ll go abroad when I have a longer vacation. If I have to spend Rs 50,000 on tickets for a family of four, we might as well stay there for atleast a week,” said Aurbind Sen Gupta.