Short Getaway Hits for the Easter Weekend

Operators such as Radisson Hotel Group, Thomas Cook India and online tour operator Cleartrip said the demand is mainly for viewable getaways.

Data from Flipkart-owned Cleartrip shows that hotel bookings for the Good Friday weekend are far higher than other long weekends, with Wayanad (338%), Mussoorie (288%), Ooty (170%), Jaipur (36 %) and more for destinations like %), and Goa (27%). A similar trend has been observed in flight bookings to destinations like Visakhapatnam (320%), Kochi (14%) and Srinagar (11%). However, there has been a 20-30% drop in flight bookings to Goa and Jaipur, Cleartrip said due to higher airfares.

“We are seeing an almost 3x increase in travel demand for the extended weekend in 2023 as compared to the previous long weekend. Compared to March, airfares from popular routes such as Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru to tourist destinations such as Chandigarh, Srinagar, Dehradun, Kochi, Port Blair and Goa saw a 20-60% increase for this weekend, besides 5 Air fares for business routes grew by -8%, increasing holiday traffic and expatriates going home for short breaks, said Indivar Rastogi, president and group head, global business travel, Thomas Cook (India) and SOTC Travel. There is a sign of significant hunger for the working population.

However, the rise in airfares is also forcing people to look at road trip getaways. “Driveable destinations are doing better as higher air travel costs ease the pressure on leisure travel on the domestic circuit,” said Zubin Saxena, managing director and senior area vice president, South Asia, Radisson Hotel Group.

SaffronStays, a villa and holiday home rental firm, is looking at a fully booked weekend. “As we anticipated, the Easter long weekend has been good to us, with almost all villas sold out. The few that are available are due to cancellations at the last minute. As the long awaited holiday comes Holi It fell on a week day, but there was not much rush as the exams were round the corner. In the year-ago period, we had 125 houses as against 235 houses, and yet, everything is full,” said Devendra Parulekar, founder of KaiserStays.

Luxury Escapes, a company that sells hotels and travel packages, has seen a rise in demand for wildlife properties in hill stations like Manali, Solan and Kufri, and Ranthambore.

“We are seeing a 15% jump in sales for this weekend compared to other long weekends,” said Arun Ashok, regional head of India and Middle East.

Thomas Cook India is also witnessing a rise in demand for active holidays led by Gen Z and Millennials with a preference for yachting, kite-sailing, scuba diving, camping and trekking, biking trips, jungle safaris and drives. There has also been an increase in drive-throughs to hill stations such as Nainital, Dehradun, Mussoorie, Panchgani, Mahabaleshwar and Coorg.