Foreign travel questions mount but high airfares spoil the game

Globally, flights to Switzerland, France and Germany increased four-fold in October from a year ago, according to tour operators. But there was no travel from India after several international flights were suspended.

Foreign flights relying on bilateral bubble arrangements between governments are still few and far between, which has led to an increase in airfares. As a result, travel to nearby short-haul destinations such as Maldives, Dubai and Sri Lanka has also increased.

According to tour operator Thomas Cook, many Indians have flocked to Dubai, which remains a top destination despite a hike in airfares of over 122% compared to 2019. The segments driving Dubai’s demand are families (including multi-generational families), groups of friends, millennials, young professionals, corporate R&D teams and trade associations.

Tour operator SOTC Travel said that Maldives continues to have strong demand from India, which is 75% higher than pre-pandemic levels.

“Demand from Egypt and Sri Lanka is also increasing among holiday seekers. Additionally, tour operators are also seeing high interest for experiential destinations such as Iceland, Russia, Lapland and Antarctica cruises for departure in February 2022,” said Daniel D’Souza, president and country head of SOTC Travel.

A tour company in Ahmedabad sent a group of 35 family and friends to Serbia for a holiday, while another based in New Delhi saw strong demand from France and other European countries.

Karan Vakharia, director of business development at Ahmedabad-based Pathfinders Holidays, which specializes in outbound tours, said he is seeing a lot of demand for outbound travel. “People now want to go back to travel. Last year, they were worried about getting sick but the fear that Covid insurance has come into play has gone away. We will see a huge boom in the travel industry in the next one year, which we are looking forward to.”

Maldives and Dubai are still giving them steady business and Sri Lanka is also doing well for them.

The travel industry has improved as a result of an improvement in the overall situation following an uptick in vaccination rates around the world. After months of lockdown, people are ready to travel, said Shikhar Agarwal, joint managing director of BLS International Services, which has resulted in a significant increase in demand for travel, which provides services like Visa.

He added that destinations like Dubai and Kenya have seen a 200-300% increase in visa applications from India as compared to the pre-Covid times.

Before the arrival of the Kovid epidemic, the number of tourists out of India in 2019 was around 26.92 million. Data analysis website Statista said that last year, only a few Indians traveled abroad (72.9 million).

Pathfinders’ Vakharia said the company is now converting 70% of its international holiday queries into business. But the rest, he said, are dropping out because of the very high airfares. “The cost of our vacations has become too high. In some areas, airfares are close to 100% from 2019 figures. Airlines are charging whatever they want and customers have to pay. Internationally, some hotel chains have also increased their pricing and we are seeing an average 30-40% jump in hotel bookings.”

Yet, a certain class of travelers, like the wealthy, remain unaffected. “Rich travelers will travel no matter what the airfare,” said Arun Ashok, regional head of India and Middle East for Australian travel firm Luxury Escapes.

Some operators are still finding it difficult to replace the demand for outbound travel.

“People are eagerly waiting to travel. Most destinations are now open, like the US, Canada, parts of Europe and the UK. But Asia is still restricted. Trend is up but prices are not matching with budget expectations. There is also a serious inventory crunch in the airline market, said Siddharth Khanna, managing partner of Travel Engineers, an outbound travel company based in New Delhi.