Passengers travelling overseas for leisure from airports in Tier II cities have doubled in the last one year, a study by a travel portal said on Tuesday.
According to the study conducted by Cox & Kings, the number of passengers travelling overseas for leisure travel from tier II cities like Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Amritsar and Kochi has doubled in the last one year and is expected to grow as it gets more convenient to travel to international hubs such as Dubai, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.
"The growth generated from these Tier II cities stands at between 25 to 30 per cent and these are catered by full-service carriers such as Emirates, Etihad and also LCCs (low cost carriers) such as Tiger Air, Silk Air and Thai Smile," the report said.
The advent of LCCs from these airports has also brought down the fares quite significantly, it added.
"The outbound travel market is growing between 12 to 15 per cent year-on-year and this growth is to a large extent driven from Tier II and Tier III cities. This shift in travel pattern coupled with the upgradation of these airports to accommodate wide-bodied aircraft has encouraged Indian and international carriers to start flights from these new destinations," said Karan Anand, Head, Relationships, Cox & Kings.
"An interesting highlight of the new gateways in Tier II cities is the increase in short-haul travel. Destinations such as Dubai, Singapore, Abu Dhabi, Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok have witnessed a growth of between 15 to 20 per cent as they do not have to travel to any other Indian international airport thereby making the most of their holiday," he added.
--IANS
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