Emerging travel trends

With the growing travel trend in India, Thomas Cook observes 60 per cent increase in leisure travel bookings, with Delhi being their best performing market in the country.

Janice Alyosius

A combination of shutdown fatigue, borders re-opening and vaccine approvals have sparked, India’s interest to travel.

As compared to September 2019, domestic travel climbed by roughly 300 per cent, while international travel increased by 55 percent. Hence, the overall trend in domestic business is amazing across the country. Thomas Cook India has seen a 60 per cent increase in leisure travel bookings since June 2021, according to Romil Pant, Senior VP, Leisure Travel.

Thomas Cook has initiated TravShield programme in association with Apollo to cover the safety aspect of passengers, a prerequisite for travel.

Domestically, Pant said the most popular locations lately have been the Northern Hills in Leh-Ladakh, Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Goa, which are popular all year. . “Delhi continues to be one of our best-performing markets in the country, contributing considerably to, both our foreign and local holiday businesses,” Pant said.

The Andamans, Goa, and Kerala are the most popular emerging choices. Kerala had a large number of cases but a low fatality rate, so people felt at ease. “The image of Kerala as a destination is much better, and people are eager to travel there,” he said. A huge demand is also seen for Sri Lanka, Rajasthan, and Gujarat.

For international travel, “The Maldives was the only destination open after July and is still a popular honeymoon destination along with Russia and Egypt that have recently opened up and are attracting lot of Indians. Early bookings in early July were for Egypt, Russia, and the Maldives, before France, Switzerland, Austria, and Germany opened up at the end of July. The recovery process is slow and steady.” All of the worldwide destinations will open during the first quarter of 2022,” Pant predicted, “and the actual scope of travel will unfurl in all of its splendour.”