It is still months for India to start sweltering, but travel operators and airlines are already in hot pursuit of tourists to make their summer holiday plans.

To get travellers on board early, travel firms/airlines are dangling the carrot of cheaper air fares and packages. The upside for the tourist is to lock in on the travel outgo when in the uncertain economic situation a depreciating rupee could make fares and packages costlier.

For instance, Emirates Airlines that has launched its global holiday sale which is on till January 10, where travellers can book for travel plans as far as June.

“From India, the average discount varies from 11 per cent to destinations in South America to 35 per cent to select points in Europe. For example, fares to London are lower by approximately 30 per cent, while fares to Paris and Frankfurt are lower by 35 per cent. Fares to New York, Washington are lower by 25 per cent on average and fares to select points in West Asia such as Dubai, Jeddah, Riyadh, and Cairo are lower by 20-30 per cent,” Essa Sulaiman Ahmad, Vice-President — India & Nepal, Emirates Airlines, told Business Line .

Air India offer

And it is not just Emirates, state-owned Air India had in September introduced its advance booking scheme offering as much as 15 per cent cheaper airfares.

Globally, booking travel in advance is quite the norm, but now Indians, known to book at the last minute, are catching on. As Sulaiman added, Emirates’ plan is to tap into a growing segment of early-bird travellers, who plan their journeys well in advance; he expects the trend to grow.

And with summer being the biggest holiday season on the Indian calendar especially for families and group travellers.

Travel firms such as Kuoni India and Cox and Kings have already launched summer packages to destinations such as Europe and the US. Owing to school vacations, families pick long-haul destinations for the summer. SOTC’s all-inclusive European holidays for this summer start from Rs 74,900, while its American holidays the packages start from Rs 1.6 lakh.

“Movement in currency exchange rate affects the cost of holiday on the whole as hotel, accommodation, air tickets and other charges fluctuate. But travellers who planned their holidays well in advance were least affected by this trend as they can avail themselves of best offers and discounts. We introduced summer packages well in advance so that customers could avail themselves of the best deals,” said Vishal Suri, Deputy COO - Tour Operating, Kuoni India. The firm said it has already got a good response for destinations such as Europe and the US.

Domestic offers

Besides introducing its holiday packages for international destination such as the US offering 50 per cent cash-back per person, Cox and Kings has also opened booking for domestic destinations.

Goibibo Managing Director Sanjay Bhasin said Indians have started to book in advance even for short-haul destinations such as the South- East Asian region by three-four weeks.

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