Despite 38% rise in air fare, denizens plan getaways for Independence Day

HYDERABAD: With a four-day long Independence Day weekend people are upbeat about taking a quick break from routine this despite the average price of flight tickets being 38% higher than regular weekends. Travel agents report a whopping 45% jump in air bookings for this Independence Day weekend.
Among the metros, Hyderabad has registered the maximum hike in bookings for Independence Day weekend, when compared with other weekends.According to online travel agent Cleartrip, Hyderabad has recorded a 78% jump in bookings while Mumbai (57%) came second followed by Delhi which recorded a 53% hike in bookings when compared with regular weekends.
“Interestingly people had planned Independence Day weekend better over other weekends in August. This is evident from the fact that 67% of the total bookings recorded so far, were made more than a month in advance. The number of advanced bookings for Independence Day weekend is 17% higher than the advance bookings made for other weekends this year,” said Balu Ramachandran, Head Air & Distribution, Cleartrip.
Online travel agents point out that adventure packages are the special demand for this long weekend.
“Booking trends across major metro cities shows how most enquiries are for adventure and activity-based packages. They are most in demand among working professionals, startup staff members and corporate heads,” said Mukesh Thapa, business strategist at TravelTriangle, an online holiday marketplace.
While the number of bookings, for perennially favourite destinations like Goa, Rajasthan, Kerala, Ladakh, Coorg and Delhi continue to increase, among international destinations are Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth.