NEW DELHI: More tourists are coming to India or travelling within the
country due to the devastating floods in Thailand, the popular Southeast
Asian budget destination where more than 400 people have lost their
lives since July.
Foreign tourists are arriving in larger numbers and staying longer in India, while domestic travellers are looking at destinations such as Goa, Kerala and Andamans with renewed interest, industry experts say.
"There is a 5%-7% increase in inbound travel into India," said Ankur Bhatia, executive director at travel technology solutions conglomerate Bird Group, "Visitors from Western countries who want to tour various parts of Southeast Asia are staying back in India due to Thailand floods, increasing footfalls and spending more foreign exchange here this season."
Domestic destinations that fall in the same price bracket as Thailand have also gained over the past month, when floods started moving south towards the Thai capital Bangkok. "There was a 15%-17% jump in bookings for domestic destinations in October," Expedia (India) marketing head Manmeet Ahluwalia said.
At the same time, tour operators have been saddled with cancellations of bookings from domestic tourists bound for Thailand.
"There is a 20%-25% drop in bookings for Thailand this season (October-December), which has translated into an overall drop of 5%-7% in bookings for outbound travel," said Sunny Sodhi, vice-president (air product) at travel portal Yatra.com.
This has dragged down growth in bookings for international tours to 10%, lower than the 15% the Indian travel industry had projected in August, said Vimla Dorairaju of Mahindra Homestays.
Even as places like Pattaya and Phuket in Thailand remain relatively less affected, airlines connecting India and Thailand have dropped base-fares by 10%-15% in order to fill up capacity, executives say.
Along with India, other international destinations in the vicinity have also gained at the expense of Thailand, where about 2 million people are employed in tourism which contributes 6% to the national GDP. "People are opting for Dubai, Sri Lanka and Malaysia as alternative holiday destinations," said a spokesperson from travel portal
Crosswoods holidays 2011
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