Now, Dubai travel gets cheaper

Mumbai: Your holiday in Dubai just got a little cheaper. Thanks to Dubai World’s crash, travel portals and agencies like MakeMyTrip, Yatra, Cleartrip and SOTC are offering packages at prices almost 40 per cent lower than a week or two ago.
“There will be some impact on outbound travels. Travel will become more affordable. With hotel occupancies dropping, less frequent business travelers, it’s the leisure travelers that will have to be lured,” said Tarique Khatri, VP - Business Development, Cleartrip.com.
For instance, MakeMyTrip.com charged between Rs 38,000-40,000 per person till early December for three nights and four days, including air tickets, visa, hotel accommodation and sight-seeing. This is now down to Rs 25,000-28,000 in a few days. Yatra is running a 25 per cent cash-back scheme on a companion travel for Dubai. SOTC, too, has brought its price down to Rs 13,800 per head for three nights and four days, from around Rs 15,000 a week earlier.
Travel agencies are happy, since these packages have got a positive response. “We can safely say that bookings have increased by 10 per cent with the new price offering. With the discounts we have managed to get from hotels and airlines, we are passing it on to customers,” says Kashmira Commisariat, COO-Outbound Division, SOTC.
This has been possible because agencies are all negotiating harder with airlines to reduce air fare, say sources. Most of these portals have managed to get a 10-15 per cent price cut on airfare and 30-35 per cent cut in hotel accommodations, and so on.
08/12/09 Aminah Sheikh/Business Standard

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

Categories: Foreign Dec 2009