Friday, January 05, 2018

IRCTC losing tourists to low cost airlines

Chennai: The number of passengers who availed Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC)'s tourism focussed Value Added Tour (VAT) packages fell by more than 40% in 2016-17, figures show. This is mainly due to low cost airlines offering a competitive rate and lack of concession for senior citizens, said the ministry of railways.
IRCTC runs a number of VAT packages, on the lines of tourist trains, which are available for smaller groups of passengers by utilising accommodation on regular trains. IRCTC blocks a certain number of berths and also arranges the hotel and transport bookings.
Statistics show that the number of passengers, which was 36,544 in 2012-13, increased to 42,681 in 2015-16 but fell by more than 40% to 24,722 in 2016-17. The revenue also fell from Rs 14.28 crore in 15-16 to Rs 10.25 crore in 16-17.
These figures were given to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Railways which made them public on Thursday.
05/01/18 Siddharth Prabhakar/Times of India
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