Rupal Shukla would describe her recent trip to Istanbul, Turkey as a shopper’s paradise, all thanks to the fall in the country’s currency, the lira. “I bought leather shoes 800 (when converted from Lira to INR) from LC Waikiki, a popular local department store in Turkey. the same shoes would normally cost 2,000-2,500,” she said.
1 Turkish Lira (TRY) approx. Is equal to 4.6, as of December 17th. Six months ago, the value of INR against TRY was 8.48, while it was more than double a year ago 9.65.
“I was able to buy a lot because consumer products priced in lira were much cheaper when converted to INR,” Shukla said.
But this slowdown is unlikely to cause a significant drop in Turkey’s overall travel budget. This is especially true if you buy holiday packages from a travel agency.
Mint spoke to three travel companies that offer tour packages to international destinations to find out whether there is a significant difference in pricing for tour packages from Turkey or other countries whose currency has depreciated in the past few months. has gone. “Our rates for hotels and tours are contracted in USD for the entire season and, therefore, there is virtually no impact of such exchange rate fluctuations,” said Rajeev Kale, President and Country Head, Holiday, MICE. , Visa – Thomas Cook (India).
EaseMyTrip co-founder Rikant Pitti also concurred. “For the Turkish market, we deal only in EUR and USD and we have not seen any drop in holiday package prices for now. Hotels in the country continue to charge in Euro and USD without reducing their prices,” he said.
Shukla confirmed these findings. “There was a marginal drop in hotel prices, but it was limited to only 13-20%. Most hotels typically use the base currency of USD or EUR, so unless a hotel keeps its fare in lira, travelers will not see a drastic change in pricing.”
If we look at the airfares, Daniel D’Souza, President and Country Head, SOTC Travel, said that that too has not changed compared to pre-Covid times.
“Airfare from Mumbai and Delhi to Istanbul is currently approx. from 45,000 50,000, which is almost in the same range as compared to 2019.”
Do-it-yourself currency depreciation (DIY) can be beneficial for travelers as their spending power on local expenses will increase.
“Depreciation in lira will be beneficial for customers when they exchange their money in local currency for transportation, shopping, experience and food,” D’Souza said.
However, it still may not make much of a difference to the overall budget as airfare and accommodation costs, both of which make up the bulk of a travel budget, will remain unchanged. Of course, instead of booking online, you can save on hotel fares by looking for cheap deals on land in bed and breakfasts (B&Bs), homestays and guest houses, which are more likely to be charged in the local currency.
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