Festivals hurt travel business

With many choosing to stay back with dear ones on the festivals, this long weekend has seen fewer bookings, say tour operators

The three-day festive weekend, Mumbaikars have chosen to be in the city rather than going out on a brief holiday, going by what tour operators say.

With a slew of festivals on the trot Eid and Ganeshotsav people want to stay back to be with friends and family. This has left leaving tour operators grumbling over a less-than-usual improvement in business.

For Neeta Tours and Travels, any other three-day weekend would mean a shot in the arm for business. But with two festivals around the same time, many have chosen to stay back in the city.

"We had expected better business. A long weekend is a rarity," said owner Sunil Salva. "But the festivals have made people cancel trips they would have taken on any other long weekend.
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Though our buses are fully booked, hotel reservations have filled up to less than 60 per cent of total occupancy. We were expecting at least 90 per cent."

An officebearer of the Travel Agents Association Of India, Iqbal Mulla, also said that people weren't keen on leaving their homestead to holiday outside.

"On extended weekends, we get about 40 per cent more bookings than usual days. The festivals have pared that down by 15 per cent."

Chembur resident Mayur Kohli, who had plans to hop across to Lonavla over the weekend, decided to call it off at the last minute.

"We had plans to head out. But now, with Eid and Ganpati festivals, we have decided to celebrate with friends here," said Kohli.

Hotels also saw many expected guests canning their plans. A three-star hotel in Lonavla got 20 last-minute cancellations on reservations.

Amid the unsmiling tour planners, Cleartrip.com is sitting happy with the whole holiday business. It has observed 5,000 international and about 25,000 flight bookings for the entire stretch of holidays.

"Thanks to the long weekend, people have extended their holiday plans," said Noel Swain, executive vice-president of Cleartrip.com.

But that may largely be because the online service tried to woo customers with a 'buy one get one free' offer on economy class air tickets for select cardholders.

"And we received an enormous response to that," said Swain.