 "Indian tourist flow to China up 50%, Thailand shows a small dip")
This holiday season, there's a shift in the choice of international destinations. The number of Indian tourists to Thailand shows a small dip while China's share of the pie has increased by almost half.
According to business transaction data from MakeMyTrip comparing summer travel of FY16 and FY15, China shows a 50 per cent growth in leisure travel while Thailand has come down by eight per cent in terms of number of Indians going to these places. There is a sizeable growth in Europe and destinations such as Greece and Turkey as well. Thailand's drop in growth could be because of multiple reasons.
"IndiGo shutting down its operations to Thailand is one of the major reasons. Thailand's visa system has also been tightened now, with bank statements and guarantee needed now. Also, with growing options within the same price point range, the traffic has shifted to other countries like Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong," said Guldeep Singh Sahni, president of the Outbound Tour
With an earthquake ravaging Nepal, the country, usually a favoured destination during this time of the year, has seen its tourist share plummet. Within India, tourists have been escaping to destinations like Himachal Pradesh, Coorg, Kashmir, the Northeast and Uttarakhand.
"We have witnessed considerable year-on-year growth in destinations like Northeast and Bhutan, apart from the established ones like Kashmir, Ladakh and Himachal. Before the Nepal earthquake, our forward bookings for Nepal also stood at 100 per cent y-o-y," said Ranjeet Oak, chief of business-Holidays, MakeMyTrip.
An increase in offbeat activities like road trips to Ladakh, adventure sports and camping in Rishikesh or a road trip trip to Mussoorie are also on the up.
"A bike trip to Ladakh with friends is something on the bucket list of a lot of people. We have seen a high adoption rate on our offers on renting bikes to Ladakh," agrees Moksha Srivastava, co-founder and CMO, Wheelstreet, a bike rental platform.
Another interesting development this summer, points out Oak, is the increase in queries for longer itineraries. "People are looking to cover all major points of a particular destination in one long trip, as they feel they may not visit the same place again," he said.
According to business transaction data from MakeMyTrip comparing summer travel of FY16 and FY15, China shows a 50 per cent growth in leisure travel while Thailand has come down by eight per cent in terms of number of Indians going to these places. There is a sizeable growth in Europe and destinations such as Greece and Turkey as well. Thailand's drop in growth could be because of multiple reasons.
"IndiGo shutting down its operations to Thailand is one of the major reasons. Thailand's visa system has also been tightened now, with bank statements and guarantee needed now. Also, with growing options within the same price point range, the traffic has shifted to other countries like Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong," said Guldeep Singh Sahni, president of the Outbound Tour
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Operators Association of India. Additionally, mobile bookings through hotels are seeing a gradual upswing as hotel tariffs remain almost the same as compared to last year.
With an earthquake ravaging Nepal, the country, usually a favoured destination during this time of the year, has seen its tourist share plummet. Within India, tourists have been escaping to destinations like Himachal Pradesh, Coorg, Kashmir, the Northeast and Uttarakhand.
"We have witnessed considerable year-on-year growth in destinations like Northeast and Bhutan, apart from the established ones like Kashmir, Ladakh and Himachal. Before the Nepal earthquake, our forward bookings for Nepal also stood at 100 per cent y-o-y," said Ranjeet Oak, chief of business-Holidays, MakeMyTrip.
An increase in offbeat activities like road trips to Ladakh, adventure sports and camping in Rishikesh or a road trip trip to Mussoorie are also on the up.
"A bike trip to Ladakh with friends is something on the bucket list of a lot of people. We have seen a high adoption rate on our offers on renting bikes to Ladakh," agrees Moksha Srivastava, co-founder and CMO, Wheelstreet, a bike rental platform.
Another interesting development this summer, points out Oak, is the increase in queries for longer itineraries. "People are looking to cover all major points of a particular destination in one long trip, as they feel they may not visit the same place again," he said.