Hotels and travel firms see brisk weekend demand

Due to the long weekends in August, hotels and travel companies have seen a surge in demand in leisure bookings and travel, Business Standard reported on Friday. For this weekend, most of the bookings for OYO came from metros, with Jaipur, Goa, Vishakapatnam, Kochi and Udaipur topping the list of preferred destinations. It has also seen an uptick in demand for local travel wherein consumers are heading to cities like Mathura or Vrindavan or choosing destinations closer to their homes.

The company has seen a 34% week-on-week increase in bookings for the Janmashtami weekend starting Saturday.

Thomas Cook India also saw a pent-up demand from Gujarat, NCR and North Indian markets. They have also been seeing interests in destinations like Udaipur, Mt. Abu, Shimla and Mussorie.

Leisure bookings increases air traffic

Air travel gradually recovered as the demand for leisure bookings and visiting family relatives segment have picked up in this month due to the two long weekends.

The growth in passenger traffic comes on the back of easing of restrictions by states amid the decline in Covid-19 cases. Airlines have also increased the number of flights to operate at 72.5% capacity from this month, as per government order.

According to Delhi International Airport Limited, around 90,000 passengers travelled via Delhi Airport daily during the first 10 days of this month, which was five times higher as compared to mid-May. The airport handled 18,000 passengers a day in May, which rose to 62,000 in July. Also, various states have removed the requirement of an RT-PCR test for fully vaccinated individuals.