The ongoing unrest in the country among other things has impacted the hospitality sector during the peak season of the year.
“Domestic travellers are postponing their current plans due to safety concerns. We have seen a 20-23 per cent month-on-month fall in the flight bookings in the affected cities for December. Travel advisories issued by some countries might also impact Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) numbers for year-end travel,” said Aloke Bajpai, Co-founder and CEO, Ixigo.
Search trends for the coming month has also seen a decline of 27 per cent in the affected cities. Due to difficult travel conditions, there has been a slight rise in cancellations for immediate travel, added Bajpai.
“With the current situation, we are focused on the safety of our customers and are recommending alternative packages to them for destinations such as Kerala and Andaman,” said Daniel D’souza, President and Country Head, Leisure, SOTC Travel.
The situation is similar when it comes to hotel bookings, too. Industry experts are of the view that due to the current state of affairs there would be a fall in the hotel bookings during the Christmas -New Year period as compared to same time last year.
“The impact of the current situation will last for a long time. Not only will this curb domestic travelling but foreign travellers are also to get affected. We are expecting a dip in the total hotel bookings as against last year but exact number would be clear in 2-3 days,” said Gurbaxish Singh Kohli, President, Hotel and Restaurant Association of Western India (HRAWI).
“We are not expecting the sale of tickets for New Year’s event to go up from last year. However, we are trying to look at it positively and our aim would be to meet the previous year’s target,” said Tarun Thakral, Chief Operating Officer, Le Meridien Hotel.