the way both COVID-19 Waves hit travel and flights in India – both domestic and international segments recorded a drop in demand during the two waves – spread of omicron The variant is having a diverse impact on the travel pattern.
Information received from airlines and several online travel agencies points to a continued growth in domestic air travel demand in 2022, but there is a direct impact of international travel sentiment to and from India.
One of the main reasons for the low expectation on international travel is the many restrictions imposed by not only India but other jurisdictions.
“We have seen a temporary drop of around 20% (compared to the company’s expectations) in international bookings for now. Countries like UK, France, US, Singapore are getting affected due to restrictions and concerns related to the new version,” Rikant Pitti, co-founder of Easy Trip Planners told The Sunday Express, adding that most of these passengers were not . Canceling but postponing your travel plans due to concerns about the new version.
A senior executive of a domestic low-cost airline said the reluctance was due to experiences with past travel restrictions.
“Thousands of people, especially NRIs, who had come home last, could not go back to their countries of employment. They came to India and got stuck here because a country like Singapore or Saudi Arabia would not allow them to enter without strict quarantine. This is the reason why international demand is running below what was originally expected for Christmas, New Year etc,” the executive said.
For example, Singapore announced a moratorium on the sale of tickets for flights under its program of quarantine-free travel in the city-state from 23 December to 20 January. Under this programme, Singapore allowed quarantine-free entry from some countries, including India. The passengers were fully vaccinated and tested.
Domestic travel demand, however, remains strong despite the rise in the Covid-19 numbers. Prahlad Krishnamurthy, Chief Business Officer Flipkart-Proprietary online travel agency Cleartrip said: “We are seeing a slight increase in cancellations for international flights towards the end of the year amid talks about a new version. However, domestic flight bookings continue on a healthy growth trajectory. In 2022, the domestic flight trends are looking much stronger than in 2021. The number of metro destinations is on track to exceed 2021. Vacation destinations like Goa, Chandigarh, Jaipur are showing very strong growth as compared to 2021 numbers.
Domestic travel demand, which started picking up momentum after the festive season in October-November, continued through the year-end holiday season, and is expected to increase in the days to come, as is the case for holiday destinations. Reflected by the increase in the number of search queries going on.
Rajnish Kumar, co-founder and group CPTO, ixigo, said: “The appetite for domestic travel is still strong for the holiday season. We have seen a 10-15% year-on-year increase in search queries for popular home holiday destinations for year-end travel including Goa, Jaipur, Srinagar and Udaipur. The demand for wedding travel has also increased in November and December as people return to the practice of destination weddings. With the deteriorating air quality in metro cities like Delhi, we are also witnessing a trend of ‘escape tourism’ where tourists are flocking to destinations like Goa due to rising pollution levels.”
Furthermore, a survey conducted by LocalCircle indicated that 58% of the respondents in India still plan to travel in the next three months, despite the Omicron risk. But while more than half of the respondents plan to travel by March, only 18% have booked to travel by any of the three modes of transport – air, rail and road.
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