Festive season brings relief

Aditya Agarwal, Head of Corporate Strategy, Cleartrip, shares data on travel trends in the domestic market, including where Indians are heading within the country, effects on fare and change in booking trends.

Manas Dwivedi

How have booking volumes changed?

Due to the pandemic, booking volumes are around 50 per cent of last year. However, booking volumes have doubled since July-August. The easing of restrictions and arrival of the festive season have spurred volumes. There is significant amount of pent-up demand that is coming back to the market, and we expect this to continue into this quarter and spill over to the next.

What are the top flight routes and preferred destinations within India?

Top routes being booked for travel between November 9 and 16 reveal that customers preferred to travel back home and spend time with family during Diwali and other festivals. The day-wise top 10 routes were dominated by those originating in business centres such as Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabad and Pune, heading towards destinations in East and North India such as Patna, Jaipur, Kolkata, Varanasi and Lucknow to name a few. As dates approached closer to Diwali, these routes replaced traditionally-busy routes between Mumbai, Bengaluru and New Delhi. Additionally, we have seen Mumbai-Goa route feature prominently across the week. Top destinations in the order from top to bottom are Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Patna, Goa, Hyderabad, Chennai, Lucknow and Varanasi.

What are some of the booking trends?

One-way trips accounted for 76 per cent of the trips between November 9 and 16. This indicates that most customers prefer to have flexibility in travel plans and re-booking closer to the date of travel. About 55 per cent of the bookings have been for travel within two weeks of Diwali. This share could have likely gone up closer to the date of festivities and couple of days after that.

Has there been a change in air fares?

Fares this year are lower than last year by around 10 per cent, but this is likely to change.