“With Independence Day falling on Tuesday, travellers have the perfect opportunity to make this an extended long weekend by taking a leave on Monday to travel. We are witnessing brisk demand of over 3x compared to the previous long weekend in May – for both domestic and closer to home locales.  
 
Long weekends provide the much needed short break opportunity and our customers have booked popular destinations like Kashmir, Himachal, Uttarakhand, Leh and Kerala; Goa and Andamans are popular beach destinations; also Nepal and Bhutan in the Indian subcontinent. Families, millennials and young professionals are also looking at drivecations/minications to nearby offbeat destinations such as Nainital, Dehradun, Mussoorie, Panchgani, Mahabaleshwar, Coorg, Ooty, Munnar, Wayanad and more.    
 
What is noteworthy is the trend of taking multiple holidays in a year – Indians are taking multiple short duration holidays to short haul and easy visa destinations. For the upcoming weekend, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Dubai-Abu Dhabi are witnessing a surge with island destinations like Mauritius and Maldives continuing to see momentum.      
 
Cruises are high in demand for the upcoming long weekend as they represent a unique value proposition for travellers: an all-inclusive holiday without the hassle of multiple check-in/check-out and transfers.”

Rajeev Kale – President & Country Head, Holidays, MICE, Visa – Thomas Cook (India) Limited

“Extended weekends are propelling travel desire and we are seeing a 2.5x surge in demand vs last year for the upcoming long weekend. Occupancy continues to be at 80-100% for premium hotels with an average 20-30% surge in room rates across destinations.

With Independence Day falling on Tuesday, our customers are making the most of this opportunity and extending their holidays by taking a leave on Monday to travel. Domestic and closer to home destinations are seeing an uptick not just from families/multigenerational families, but increasingly from our young professionals/millennials and couples segments.
India’s migrant working population continues to maximise on such extended weekend – public holiday breaks to return home and this is seeing an increase in flight loads from metros to Tier 2-3 cities.

Airfares for popular routes – from various hubs like Mumbai and Delhi to Chandigarh, Srinagar, Dehradun, Kochi, Goa and Port Blair – have witnessed a 15-20% surge vs last year for the upcoming long weekend.

Fares for international sectors are also on the upswing compared to last year: 30% to Paris and London; 12-15% for Milan and Zurich; and 5-10% for Dubai and South East Asian destinations.”

Indiver Rastogi, President & Group Head, Global Business Travel, Thomas Cook (India) and SOTC Travel

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