The upcoming festival season could be the best time to travel this year. With five star hotels currently quoting room rates that are 30 per cent lower than last year, traveling will be lighter on pockets.
“Average room rates have declined by approximately 30 per cent .However, the decline at leisure hotels has not been that significant,” said a spokesperson for Oberoi Group of Hotels.
On the occupancies, the leisure hotels are expected to see a 15-20 per cent increase over Dasara last year.” More so, this year with Dasara falling on a Friday, there is the advantage of a long weekend,” she added.
To capture the festive mood at luxury properties of Oberoi you could head for a 2-night stay at The Oberoi Rajvilas, Jaipur priced at Rs 35,000 exclusive of taxes. The Oberoi Amarvilas , Agra and the Oberoi Udaivilas, Udaipur would cost Rs 36,500 .The offer will be valid till September 30.Some offers extend up to December 31 too.
The travel companies too are happy that the season has kicked off on a bright note.” Festive season looks much better. Bookings are good and enquiries for the season going ahead are also encouraging,” said Mr. Madhawan Menon, Managing Director, and Thomas Cook India. For outbound travel, Thomas Cook is currently offering three night four-day packages to South East Asia starting from Rs 17,500 a person valid for travel till Sept –October , Packages to south East Asia starting from Rs 17,500 a person valid for travel till September –October. Packages are also available for France, Ireland , Switzerland, Egypt and several other destinations .
To ensure travelers don’t miss out on festival celebrations on the sojourn, the company will be arranging a night of ‘Gabha’ for groups traveling during Navratri.A special feast with vegetarian menu will be arranged for Dasara.
According to Mr. Menon, booking trend in 2009 is not comparable to last year because the industry practically did not see any season in 2008.
Last year, the Indian travel and hospitality industry suffered a double whammy at the hands of global recession and the terrorist attacks of November. The slump in the western economies impacted travel during the festival season.
And the terror attacks in two prime hotels in Mumbai right in the middle of the peak season ruined the remaining season.
Mr.Madhavan was still unsure whether the bookings patterns could be termed as ‘recovery’.
He said there is “definitely an improvement but not an entire bounce back”.
“The recession in the European markets still continues, which could have some impact on the winter bookings. However, compared to last two quarters there has been an improvement of 5-7 per cent in the booking numbers,” said Mr. S.P. Jain, Chairman, Pride hotels and president of hotels and restaurants association, western India.
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