There has been an exceptional surge in travel activity in April, driven by Good Friday and Eid holidays and the Indian Premier League. Industry data show that there has been an eight-fold increase in flight bookings in the first week of April, compared to last year, with train bookings increasing 20-30 per cent month-on-month. Bookings for the last week of April, coinciding with Eid celebrations, have also surged 80 per cent.

It is a rare phenomenon to get two long weekends, a festival and an important cricket event all in one month, along with the summer vacation period.

Industry players have witnessed a heightened demand for travel during April. According to Rategain’s data, 2023 began with the highest flight booking activity in the last five years. The first week of April saw an eight-fold rise in flight booking activity, said the SaaS company, while EaseMyTrip witnessed an 80 per cent hike in bookings. While Rategain attributed this rise to Eid, which coincides with a long weekend, Easemytrip also witnessed a surge on routes frequented during Eid.

“There is close to 80 per cent uptick in bookings to Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad during April 21-23 weekend. Most people are wanting to visit to the renowned mosques in these cities. Internationally, popular destinations such as Dubai, Bahrain, Saudi, Qatar, Oman have seen an increased interest this year, considering it’s a long weekend,” Nishant Pitti, CEO & Co-Founder, EaseMyTrip

Indiver Rastogi, President & Group Head, Global Business Travel, Thomas Cook (India) and SOTC Travel, pointed out that the travel company was seeing a three-fold increase in travel demand for the consecutive extended weekends in April (including Mahavir Jayanti, Good Friday, Ambedkar Jayanti and Eid). . “Strong uptick is visible across families, young professionals/millennials, couples and ad hoc group of friends,” he explained. 

SOTC, too, has seen a hike in spiritual travel bookings in April. On the other hand, it is often fondly quoted that cricket is a religion in India. The Indian Premier League 2023 started on March 31. 

ixigo has seen a 20 per cent month-on-month increase in flight search queries and bookings for March and April due to IPL despite domestic airfares being higher 20-30 per cent. Cricket and sports tourism is on the boom as travellers are keen on combining their holidays with IPL matches. Bulk bookings are also on the rise as cricket enthusiasts all over are excited to travel with their friends and family to watch the matches, especially after the COVID lull.

Train ticket booking platform, Confirmtkt has also seen a 10-15 per cent m-o-m rise in train bookings for cities like Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Chennai & Mumbai which are hosting IPL matches. 

“We have seen a high interest in travel search queries for cities like  Mumbai, Chennai & Bangalore this year which indicates that these teams are also being considered the top contenders this season,” Aloke Bajpai, Co-founder & Group CEO, ixigo said.

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