After two years of dull travel sentiment across the country and the world, this festive season, travel confidence has built up in India and more consumers are feeling positive about advanced bookings, said Nitika Khanna, Vice President – Brand Strategy, Yatra.com. “We, at Yatra.com, are anticipating growth of around 60-70 per cent in hotel bookings and around 30 per cent recovery for flights. We have seen a spike in booking enquiries for the festive season starting Diwali, leading up to Christmas and New Year’s,” she told FinancailExpress.com. This is despite an increase of up to 25 per cent in airfares for some routes during the long Diwali weekend. In conversation with Tanya Krishna, Nitika Khanna talked about the anticipated growth across all travel components in the upcoming months, consumers’ inclination towards leisure travel, growth in international flight bookings, and much more.

Here are the excerpts from the interview.

Are you witnessing a shift towards more leisure travel as compared to budget travel? Elaborate.

As we gear up to celebrate festivities and look forward to a major holiday season, there has been a heightened demand among consumers for travel with their friends and families. After a long Covid-led hiatus, people are now opting for leisure travel and once-in-a-lifetime experiences over budget travel. They are keen on investing more for a rich experience, domestic destinations, luxury hotels, and heritage properties among others. In the post-pandemic era, consumer’s travel sentiment witnessed a major shift. This shift has provided a necessary boost to various travel trends such as staycations, and long weekend trips and given rise to many like workcations, experiential travel, and bookings closer to travel dates, among others.

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What kind of recovery are you expecting this festive season? What percentage rise in booking are you witnessing currently (for flights and hotels)?

This festive season is expected to further propel the growth of the travel and hospitality sector as the travel demand is at its peak amidst the festive holidays. We, at Yatra.com, are anticipating growth of around 60-70 per cent in hotel bookings and around 30 per cent recovery for flights. Moreover, we are also expecting an approximate growth of around 20 per cent across all travel components in the upcoming months.

Which cities, and regions in India are seeing the highest number of bookings currently?

We have observed a significant increase in hotel booking for destinations like Goa, and Andaman, along with various hill stations from all across the country such as Manali, Dalhousie, Saputara, Mount Abu, Ooty, Chikmagalur, Gangtok, and Shillong. The top domestic destinations that are seeing an uptick in air travel bookings include Mumbai and Bangalore.

How are religious destinations performing right now in comparison to beach destinations or hill stations?

India has a rich and diversified tourism potential, and its religious heritage provides for a unique tourism opportunity. While religious tourism is one of the largest verticals of travel in India, we are witnessing significant traction for various hill stations this season. Religious travel will always be the core of domestic travel in India and will continue to be one of the top destinations for booking enquiries.

Tell us about the percentage growth in Indians booking flights for international destinations. Which are the popular destinations currently?

The pent-up demand for international travel has led to the revival of India’s outbound as well as inbound travel segments. Payment options such as travel now pay later and no cost EMIs are further providing a significant boost to international travel desires of people by making it affordable and accessible. We, at Yatra.com, have seen a 40 per cent growth in flight bookings for international destinations such as Sydney, Canada, and UAE. Moreover, we have witnessed a spike in inbound booking inquiries and demand from various international locations such as the Middle East, UAE, Muscat, and Singapore.

What kind of investment have you made in digital media presence? How are these working out for you?

To connect with our internet-savvy consumers and create conversations around our ongoing festive discounts, we have planned multiple digital campaigns. Kickstarting this season’s campaigns, we have launched #KhushiyonKiYatra where we are providing attractive deals of up to 25 per cent off on flights, hotels, holidays, and buses. We, at Yatra.com, have collaborated with multiple influencers to popularize #KhushiyonKiYatra as well as to engage consumers and create awareness about the ongoing festive deals. We are also tying up with various banking and fintech partners, hotel chains and airlines to provide the best deals to travelers. Additionally, we are also offering exciting features like interest-free EMI, a PayDay Sale, and attractive bank offers for the festive season to travelers enabling them to plan their travel better.