Decline in air fares causes increase in bookings on travel portals

Mumbai: Makemytrip.com, travel-related portal remained inaccessible yesterday owing to an unprecedented increase in bookings, after Air India and JetLite slashed their fares last month. According to a report in Business Standard, Keyur Joshi, COO, Makemytrip said that their website can take around 1,00,000 hits per day but they received more than 1,50,000 hits yesterday. Travel agents and OTAs stated that the airline bookings have surged by 20 per cent after aviation companies cut fares.
Air India recently announced between 35-82 per cent cut in fares while Jet Airways also slashed its basic fares up to 40 per cent, giving the tourism industry a much-needed impetus. Meanwhile, hotel bookings also increased by about ten per cent, as travel accounts for about 40 per cent of holiday cost. “A lot of domestic travellers were anticipating airfare cuts. Air ticket bookings have now jumped 20 per cent and the rise in the number of hotel bookings has been up to eight per cent,”said Dhruv Shringi, CEO and Co-founder, Yatra.com.
The ongoing economic slowdown, high air fares and terror attacks had subdued tourist enthusiasm resulting in lower occupancies in hotels and fewer passengers. But with air fares dropping, the travel and tourism industry is hoping for a quick recovery. “We estimate that the demand for air bookings will rise by about 25 per cent going forward,” said Arup Sen, Executive Director, Cox & Kings. Sen added that they expect the number f hotel bookings to go up significantly in January 2009, as tourists will flock to take advantage of lower tour packages. Travel companies are expecting hotel bookings for destinations where travel costs account for the largest chunk most of the holiday package to register a sharp increase.
02/01/09 TravelBizMonitor

To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline

Categories: Indian Aviation- In General Jan 2009