Business travel gets cheaper

One year ago, exorbitant oil prices were taking travel costs to new heights and business travellers were bearing the costs in greater amounts
because of their frequent travel. Now, travel prices are falling again, due to the global recession, and the fact that airline hoteliers and car rental companies are taking evasive actions to survive.
“Airlines are desperately trying to fill seats. It’s a great time to strike travel deals with airlines since they are offering better deals to business travellers when compared to leisure travellers who are not so frequent. Business class travelling has never been cheaper. Today, you can fly to Zurich and back in business class at Rs 80,000. The travel industry is looking at picking pace in September and these low prices will not last long,” says Hector D’souza, president, L’orient Travels.
If you are a frequent traveller and have signed up for the miles deal system with any airline, it is a good time to redeem all your miles. Since all airfares are discounted at this point in time, you can cover more miles now.
“The recession has impacted our business by at least 30 per cent, as corporates who were our major clients have been severely hit by the downturn. The travel industry has innovated itself in the past few months to suit the business traveller’s current budget and requirement,” adds D’souza.
The travel portals as well as travel firms are offering great deals on hotel stays along with cheap flight rates. You can avail a higher discount if you opt for two or three combos in one go.
28/04/09 Poulomi Chakravarty/Economic Times

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Categories: Indian Aviation- In General Apr 2009