Demand Surges for Festive Season Travel – India Report

Amid reports of increasing demand for travel for the upcoming festive season, Skift reached out to travel services companies to understand the trends in festive season travel.

“In anticipation of the upcoming Eid-e-Milad extended weekend on September 15 and 16, we have observed an increase in searches across domestic and international destinations,” Santosh Kumar, Country Manager for India, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Indonesia at Booking.com, told Skift. 

He added that according to Booking.com’s data, Popular hill stations such as Lonavala, Ooty and Kodaikanal are observing an uptick between 20-50% in searches as compared to the same period last year. Mussoorie in particular is experiencing a 120% year-on-year growth in searches. “Furthermore, Indian travelers are capitalizing on this extended break to explore spiritual destinations like Varanasi, Rishikesh, and Puri,” he added. 

According to Booking.com accommodation search data, international destinations like London, Dubai, Singapore, Paris, and Baku remain top choices for Indian travelers seeking extended weekend getaways, he said. 

Indiver Rastogi, President & Group Head, Global Business Travel, Thomas Cook (India) and SOTC Travel, said that the festive season for Dusshera holidays, between October 12 and 18, and Diwali, between October 30 and November 5, are already seeing significant demand. “Value-conscious Indians are booking 60-90 days in advance to avail lower pricing and special discounts announced by both airlines and hotels. Fares are currently lower than the peak summer pricing and this has given momentum to demand for the upcoming festive season,” he said. 

Airfares to Bagdogra, Andamans, Jaipur, Udaipur, and Goa have seen a dip, according to Thomas Cook. “We have seen a mere 5-8% increase in airfares from key metros to destinations like Kashmir, Leh-Ladakh,  Kochi, Madurai/Coimbatore (Ooty), Mysore/Mangalore (Coorg) when booked 60-90 days prior to departure. The demand-supply effect is understandably pushing fares north closer to departure and for last-minute bookers, our expectation is a growth of approximately 15-25%,” Rastogi added. 

Thomas Cook has also launched festive tours for Durga Puja, Dusshera, and Diwali in view of the increasing demand. It noted that Indians are now opting for longer stays during festival vacations: the stays have increased from three days earlier to 6-15 days now. “The appetite to spend has increased by 10-15% YoY,” the company said.

Keeping Airfares in Check: Meanwhile, the Indian civil aviation ministry is monitoring airfares daily as the festive season approaches, said civil aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu. The minister said that the government has been in contact with airport operators, asking them to keep airfares reasonable and not exploit increase in demand during the season. 

Adding that no unreasonable fare surges have been observed yet, Naidu said that the ministry will take appropriate actions if necessary. Since taking over as the minister in June this year, Naidu has said that making air travel affordable is his priority and that he is working on a strategy to keep airfares in check. 

While Naidu is trying to make air travel affordable and is formulating a strategy to monitor airfares, there is not much the government can do. India deregulated the aviation sector in 1994, and since then, it neither establishes nor regulates the airfares. In July this year, minister of state for civil aviation Murlidhar Mohol said that the ministry has advised airlines to self-regulate and exercise moderation in pricing air tickets in response to concerns over high airfares, especially during peak periods and festivals.

He then added that the airlines had committed to ensure that airfares do not surge during events “such as natural disasters, calamities, etc.” For airfare monitoring in India, civil aviation watchdog Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has set up a Tariff Monitoring Unit (TMU) to monitor airfares on select domestic routes on a random basis to ensure that airlines do not charge airfares outside the range declared by them. 

DigiYatra Expands Service to 9 New Airports

India’s digital initiative for airport check-ins DigiYatra has expanded its service to nine new airports, civil aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu announced on Monday. The facility is now available at 24 airports. 

Naidu said that the ministry aims to expand this initiative to every Indian airport in the coming years. He added that in 2014, India had 74 airports, and this has increased to 157 airports at present. The ministry aims to expand this number to 400 airports in the next 25 years. 

DigiYatra is a digital air travel app that uses facial recognition for quicker processing of passengers at airport entry gate, pre-security gate and boarding gate. At present, the facility can only be used for passengers traveling within India. 

However, the DigiYatra Foundation is working on expanding to international travel. Its CEO Suresh Khadakbhavi told my colleague Peden Doma Bhutia that the foundation was expecting to start prototype testing on e-passport based enrollment this year itself. 

IndiGo, BookMyShow Launches ‘Runway to Party’ Campaign

IndiGo has partnered with online entertainment ticketing platform BookMyShow for the ‘Runway to Party’ campaign. The collaboration aims to provide music festival attendees with exclusive benefits. 

Attendees who book tickets to travel to Bandland 2024 in Bengaluru on November 23 and 24 and Lollapalooza India 2025 in Mumbai on March 8 and 9, 2025 will get a discount of up to 20% on IndiGo flights after they complete the transaction on BookMyShow. 

The collaboration comes as BookMyShow is witnessing an increase in music tourism. Bandland 2023 in Bengaluru witnessed close to 30% of the attendees coming from outside the city, while for Lollapalooza 2024 in Mumbai, this figure was 36%. 

Fintech Platform Niyo Introduces Outward Remittance Service

Travel-banking fintech platform Niyo has entered the outward remittance service for Indian students abroad. The offering is aimed to help students and their families to transfer money internationally directly through the Niyo app. 

Indian students currently make up 25% of Niyo’s total customer base of 1.5 million users. Niyo is aiming to grab a market share of 50% in terms of fintech solution for this segment by the 2025-26 financial year. 

Its strategy revolves around zero-cost solutions, offering zero forex mark-up, no convenience fee on flight bookings, no service fee on visa applications, and no platform fee on remittances, according to co-founder and CEO Vinay Bagri. 

Air India Launches Cityside Check-In, Bag Drop Facility in Hyderabad

Full-service airline Air India has commenced a cityside check-in and baggage drop facility at the Hyderabad airport. Through this facility, passengers traveling with Air India, Vistara, and Air India Express can check-in for their flights and drop their bags as early as six hours and up to 90 minutes before the scheduled departure. 

The facility is located outside the airport terminal, and is currently only available to domestic passengers. Passengers with oversized or excess baggage will need to use the check-in counters inside the terminal, the airline clarified. 

Passengers will also have the option to use the Self Bag Drop (SBD) machines to drop their bags, Air India said. 

Europe’s FlixBus Partners With Ixigo-Backed AbhiBus

European intercity bus service FlixBus has entered into a partnership with online travel agency Ixigo’s bus ticketing platform AbhiBus. The collaboration will lead to FlixBus tickets being available on the AbhiBus platform. 

FlixBus launched in India earlier this year on key routes in North India, before expanding into the South Indian market. It is available in major cities including Bengaluru, Chennai, and Hyderabad. It recently also partnered with fintech company Paytm. 

It is now seeking to expand into smaller cities in the southern region of India through AbhiBus’ network.