International holiday locales like Thailand and Singapore have dethroned popular domestic destinations like Goa and Kerala this holiday season, owing to cheaper international holiday packages.
The New Year is just around the corner and Delhiites are on a vacation spree to welcome 2014 away from the city. This holiday season, people seem more inclined to go to foreign destinations, which are no longer a luxury, as compared to domestic ones.
International holiday packages have turned out to be equally priced or, in some cases, less expensive than holidays in India. Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and Dubai are among the top in the list.
Pallavi Kukreti, a teacher who recently visited Thailand along with her family, said, “The holiday package came to my attention when I had almost finalized Goa, but when I saw that Thailand had so many attractions, better shopping and more places to visit around Bangkok, and all for the same price, I chose that over Goa. The flight tickets for Goa were close to `20,000 while the ones for Bangkok did not cross `17,000.” Talking about the hotel standards, she said, “A three-star room available in Bangkok is way better than perhaps a four-star in Goa.”
Similar was the case of Sameer Dawar, a lawyer who recently visited Bangkok with his friends. “We were trying to choose between going to Goa and going to Thailand. After looking at the airfare, we realized that it was roughly the same price. A round trip for Delhi-Goa was around `18,000 to `20,000, while a Delhi-Bangkok round trip was `20,000. We realized that a Goa trip will easily cost us `35,000, especially around this time of the year,” he said, adding, “Pooling in another 10 grand would have given us a nice trip away from India. So we decided to go to Bangkok and Koh Samui. We were also a bit late in making the bookings. If a package is booked well in advance, a trip to Bangkok is cheaper than that to Goa or the Andamans, during the festive season.”
Kerala, one of the most visited holiday spots in India, has also lost vacationers to foreign destinations, due to increasing rates of domestic holidays. Srishti Sharma, a lawyer who went to Singapore with a friend for four days, said, “We had planned to go to Kerala, but decided on Singapore, where we spent `60,000 each. Had it not been for the shopping, the cost would have been lesser. Flight tickets for Kerala were above `15,000 and hotel rooms were way out of our budget.”
Vikram Malhi, manager of South East Asia, Expedia, said, “We have observed that people want to start the year with new destinations to party. The number of people leaving the city to celebrate has increased by 30-35%, compared to last year. However, the soaring domestic prices, volatility in the aviation sector and economical international airfares, have made foreign destinations more attractive than domestic ones.” He goes on to say that the downfall of the rupee has led Indians to ditch far-off destinations like Europe and the US for South East Asian destinations. People now prefer Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Philippines and Indonesia. Repeat travellers are looking at more exotic locales like Krabi, Hua Hin, Chiang Mai, Koh Samui, Sabah, Bintan, and Kota Kinabalu, etc. At present, a Delhi-Goa round trip costs around `20,000, whereas a Delhi to Bangkok round trip is around `25,000. With such a marginal difference, people will any day choose an international destination.
Deepak Wadhwa, co-founder of We Are Holidays, an online travel company, said, “International holidays have definitely become cheaper. Goa, the most visited destination during this season, has higher rates. This has now got people opting for other places. Other factors, like low-cost airlines and better quality hotels at the same price, again lead travellers abroad.
A family of four can visit Thailand within `2 lakh.” Mukesh Dehal, from World Destinations, spoke about the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the reason air tickets in India are so expensive. “Taxes on air tickets in India are much higher than the countries around it. With most of the airlines falling under IATA, except most of India, the taxes are high here,” he said. “The cost of a package to Goa would be between `40-60k. For Kerala, it’d be `50-70k. A tourist might as well go to another country,” he added.
Goa for New Year"s? Nah, Thailand"s good!
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