6-day break sees most bags packed for overseas trips

Mumbai: Anisha Madhok, a bank executive, had planned to visit Andaman during Diwali vacation in 2017, but a six-day holiday bonanza, starting April 14 if two days of leave is managed in between, and competitive travel pricing, have made her change her plans. The Madhoks are visiting Malaysia this week by spending a little over the planned budget. While those earlier planning short tours to Konkan have now decided to visit other parts of the country, those who had planned to head to the North-East and Kashmir are instead flying abroad, mostly South-East Asian nations such as Malaysia and Singapore.
Tour operators said international packages are in demand during the six-day break as tourists seem to prefer Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand over equally-priced tour packages for Kashmir and the North-East. But as the number of tourists has increased this summer, tourist hotspots in the state, such as Ganpatipule, Tarkarli, Mahabaleshwar and Tadoba, will also see huge footfalls. Across the country, operators said, a larger quantum of tours are for Nainital and Kashmir followed by Munnar and Manali.
Satish Soni, joint managing director of Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC), said while Ganpatipule and Tarkarli have the highest number of bookings for the days ahead and the whole of summer, the jungles of Vidarbha and hill stations, such as Mahabaleshwar, are second and third in demand. “We are facing heavy bookings as many destinations already have waiting lists.”
An MTDC official said hotels as well as rooms made available by locals under the bread-and-breakfast scheme are fully booked in Ganpatipule, Tarkarli and Malwan.
Abhijit Khadlikar of Enterprising Travelers Association, which has over 750 tour agents as members, said this time, bookings were 20% more than usual as Himalayan tours and overseas travel were on top of tourists’ minds.
Jay Bhatia, chairman of tourism council and national treasurer for Travel Agents Association of India, said bookings suddenly spiked mid-April due to the six-day holiday. “As many airlines, such as Etihad, Qatar, Emirates and Air France, have dropped their fares owing to less European tourists (due to the financial slowdown), Indians are taking up the offers. Also, as hotels and airlines in South-East Asian nations will see tourists only after June, more Indians are enthused to visit Malaysia and Singapore.”
Atul Mohile, an office-bearer of the Maharashtra Tour Organisers’ Association that has a membership of over 140 travel agents, said the bookings had increased this summer, especially for the coming long as all the Jungle Safaris in Pench, Tadoba and Badhavgad were full. “Instead of earlier planned trips to Andaman and Himalayas, people are switching over to neighbouring countries such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Bhutan as airfares and stay are competitively priced against the package tours such as to Kashmir, North-East and Kulu-Manali,” he added.