Popular tourist destinations in India swamped as year-end tourism explodes 

Air fares have sky-rocketed. Hotel room tariffs are at a record high. Even occupancy rates in hotels are near one hundred per cent.

Yet, the past few days have seen social media flooded with scenes of snaking traffic jams at popular hill stations. Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand are jam-packed with tourists. There’s no space to park at hotels, many with confirmed bookings are being forced to park miles away. And, those without confirmed reservations are being turned away from hastily set up police check-posts.

In Goa, it’s the cabbies who are making a killing. According to several accounts, a commute from the airport to the hotel is often costlier than the air-ticket to the resort state. On the social media, there are nightmare tales of 6,000-rupee trip bills. Not only that, there are reports of beach-front restaurants and shacks seeking their pound of flesh for sea-view seats and beach beds.

The tourism boom began with the festive season. The ICC cricket world cup also contributed to the travel boom. This was followed by a month of the peak wedding season. The current end-of-the-year travel is the cherry on top of an industry which has returned with a vengeance, breaking records set in the pre-Covid days.

According to EaseMyTrip, there's been a significant 60 per cent increase in overall bookings and a 40 per cent rise in advance reservations over the New Year weekend. Popular destinations saw a surge in bookings from the second week of December itself. Additionally, the period has seen around 35 lakh overseas Indians returning, contributing to higher airfares. The growing preference for beach getaways, coupled with rising domestic airfares, is prompting Indians to choose budget-friendly short-haul international journeys.

A study by Thomas Cook India has identified the last week of December followed by the first week of January as the peak travel days, leading to a spike in airfares. Compared to last year, airfares to popular winter sectors from hubs like Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai and Kochi are witnessing an uptick of 5-20 per cent for Srinagar; 5-12 per cent for Jaipur, Andaman and Kerala, 10-20 per cent for Chandigarh and Bagdogra, 15-30 per cent for Pondicherry, 10-40 per cent for Dehradun and 25-60 per cent for Goa.

Interestingly, airfares to long haul destinations have dropped 5-16 per cent versus last year. Fares to Paris that were at Rs 83,000 in December last year, have dropped to Rs 70,000. Similarly for Zurich, airfares that were at Rs 90,000 are currently at Rs 76,000; Frankfurt which was at Rs 87,000 is now at Rs 73,000; London which was at Rs 94,000 is now at Rs 89,000. Airfares to Sydney which were at Rs 101,500 is now at Rs 96,000.

Meanwhile, the travel frenzy is being reflected in the stock market as well. IndiGo has zoomed 22 per cent in the past 3 months. Travel intermediaries like EaseMyTrip and Thomas Cook India have risen up to 13% while International Travel House is up 23%. The rise in hotel stocks like the Taj Group and Lemon Tree Hotels is however more muted.

There is also a remarkable shift in tourist habits this year. Tourists seem to be more conscious of the prohibitive hotel tariffs and are showing a clear preference for bed and breakfast and private residences on rent. This is especially true for tourist hotspots like Goa and Kerala. What this has done is forced some of the frontline hotels to do the unbelievable-lower their tariffs at the eleventh hour.

So, if you are still on the lookout – maybe a good deal is still available than a few days ago.