Indian outbound travel demand surges for summer

 

India outbound travel demand for Hong Kong has returned strongly; Hong Kong Observation Wheel pictured

This summer travel season is heating up for many Indian travel consultants, who have reported robust bookings both for shorthaul and longhaul destinations this year compared to the last year.

For this peak summer season, Rajeev Kale, president & country head, holidays, MICE, Visa-Thomas Cook (India), noted that longhaul travel demand has quadrupled while shorthaul destinations have tripled over 2022.

“Europe continues to top our demand pipeline with a surge of over 300 per cent for the upcoming summer holidays, followed by South-east Asia’s Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. Vietnam and Cambodia are also witnessing brisk business. Other destinations like the Maldives, Mauritius, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Ras Al-Khaimah are also (in demand),” Kale added.

Meanwhile, Varun Gupta, partner of Travelz Factorry, remarked: “The outbound travel demand this year is surpassing the previous year’s growth. Destinations like Vietnam, Turkey and Azerbaijan are recording strong (interest). On the other hand, the demand for Hong Kong has returned strongly. Popular destinations like Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Dubai are already recording demand comparable to the pre-pandemic numbers.”

Agents say demand is fuelled by various traveller segments.

Daniel D’Souza, president & country head – holidays, SOTC Travel, sees demand streaming in from multigenerational families, Gen Zs, millennials, DINKs and solo travellers.

He said: “Despite increased airfares and room rates, and we are witnessing high demand emerging from not only India’s metros, but also mini metros, tier-two and tier-three cities.”

-TTG Asia.