More tourists from Vizag travelling abroad

Attractive foreign tour packages & discounts make travelling abroad a better option

Travel operators in Vizag are sporting a grin with the city populace showing an increased appetite for travelling abroad.

Travel operators in the city point out that over the last four years an increasing number of the local populace going abroad is travelling purely for tourism related reasons.

The main reasons seem to be the travel operators offering attractive foreign tour packages at reasonable prices apart from discounts for shopping tourists from many countries.

In fact, a foreign tour package would cost as much, if not less, as a domestic tour package "� which has encouraged travelling abroad to a large extent.

There are about 30 small and big travel agency companies operating in the city, of which six to seven big agencies are franchisees of big ticket travel companies like Thomas Cook or Cox and Kings, and all of them have reported an increase in business related to foreign travel originating from the city.

"Before 2000, every year we booked only about 100-120 tickets for foreign going people, mainly to the US. For the last three to four years, foreign going travellers have gradually increased and now we are sending 400-450 travellers abroad," KSRK Prasad, director of Frontline Travels Private Limited, which is the leading travel agency in the city, told Business Standard.

Earlier, only 10-15 per cent of the foreign travellers were travelling for tourism related reasons with the remaining travelling for higher education or to visit relatives living abroad. But now 40-50 per cent of the foreign travellers are travelling for tourism and shopping, Prasad pointed out.

Travel companies like Thomas Cook and Cox and Kings are offering attractive foreign packages at reasonable prices and these companies are reducing prices year-on-year. In 2000, these companies on an average charged Rs 1.5 lakh per person for a 15-day European trip (nine countries).

Now for the same trip they charge Rs 1.3 lakh for a 17-day trip which includes three-star hotel accommodation, breakfast, lunch and dinner. Even the salaried class is now going for these trips which was earlier the sole preserve of rich businessmen and their families, he observed.

Sometimes, foreign trips are cheaper than local trips and this is one of the reasons for increased foreign travellers. For example, a seven-day trip to Kerala from Vizag in a second A/C train journey and a three-star hotel accommodation will cost around Rs 40,000-45,000 per couple, whereas a seven-day trip to Singapore and Malaysia will cost only between Rs 55,000 and Rs 60,000 per couple, including accommodation and air charges.

The tourism departments of Singapore and Malaysia are now offering discounts for shopping tourists while a trip to Singapore only costs less than Rs 20,000 per person, whereas a Vizag to Delhi trip cost (by air) is around Rs 21,400, Prasad said.

Keeping in mind the increased number of travellers from the city, Singapore Airlines is planning to start a service from Vizag to Singapore after the completion of the airport expansion.

Once this happens, Singapore-bound tourists will increase tremendously, he said. Thomas Cooks is also planning to set up an office in Vizag by the end of this year, he said.