Thomas Cook India’s internal data had revealed a significant and growing trend among Indians preferring to travel rather than stay at home during key festivals. The company witnessed aggressive growth in holiday uptake during the Diwali festive season, with a surge of 30% for its domestic tours and 26% for its international destinations.
President & Country Head Leisure Travel
With an eye on capitalizing on the trend, Thomas Cook also launched a series of attractive packages and value offers, which when coupled with airline deals, to push consumer demand.
Amongst key trends, short hauls to nearby Asian countries and destinations providing Indian with the visa-on-arrival facility topped in terms of consumer preference. Take a look at this: Thomas Cook India’s Asia Group Tours seeing a surge of over 30%, compared to the same period of 2016. Top destinations included Singapore, Thailand, Bali, Malaysia and Japan. Additionally, favourites like Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Jordan and Egypt showed high demand this year.
On the domestic front, strong demand with destinations like Andamans, Bhutan, the Rann of Kutch-Gujarat, Rajasthan, Goa, Nepal, Coorg and Kerala’s backwaters was witnessed.
Rajeev Kale –President & Country Head Leisure Travel & M.I.C.E, Thomas Cook (India) attributed the trend to growing interest in modern-day consumers for short-haul sojourns. “Today’s travel hungry Indian consumer is quick to leverage festivals by clubbing them with weekends to create longer holidays-an apt opportunity to indulge in family bonding or a well-deserved break to rejuvenate. Our sales teams have reported a significant surge this Diwali festive season and this is an encouraging trend,” he said.
