Bookings for destinations in Southeast Asia may fall by 25 percent
The coronavirus outbreak had already hit the global travel industry hard, and now with new infections being confirmed in India, the domestic travel industry too is beginning to feel its impact.
Travelers have become apprehensive about traveling, both online and offline travel companies told Moneycontrol. Most cancellations or requests for rescheduling are coming for those headed to Southeast Asian destinations.
While it may be too early to predict, there could be an up to 25 percent drop in future bookings for these destinations such as Bangkok and Bali, online travel portal Yatra.com said. A similar impact may be seen on traffic to Italy, another popular tourist place.
Both Southeast Asia and Italy have seen a surge in confirmed coronavirus cases. More than 5,300 people have died all over the world, with over 90,000 infected.
In India, six confirmed cases have been reported, and another six people are being monitored for the coronavirus.
This news has upset travellers.
"Travellers are wary of making fresh bookings to affected locations and airfares to these destinations have dropped by 20-30 percent. We have received around 35 percent of cancellation queries from travelers planning their trips to foreign locations during the holiday season," said Sabina Chopra, Co-Founder and COO, Corporate Travel & Head Industry Relations, Yatra.com.
"While we have seen a 30-35 percent drop in airfares across international routes post the virus outbreak," added Aloke Bajpai, CEO & Co-founder, ixigo.
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Any drop in travellers will be a serious setback for the whole travel industry, including airlines, as the peak summer season coincides with school vacations, which is just about to begin. For airlines, including IndiGo and SpiceJet, this is one of their peak business seasons.
Both airlines had aggressively expanded operations to cities in Southeast Asia.
"Airfares for the domestic market hasn't changed much, whereas fares for international flights have dropped. Moreover, Indian travellers are avoiding travel to Hong Kong and Singapore," said Nishant Pitti, Co-founder & CEO, EaseMyTrip.
Source: Ixigo
"People often travel at short notice, like when a long weekend is coming up. Impulsive travel has increased. But the sentiment right now is of apprehension," Ajay Prakash, Chief Executive at Mumbai-based Nomad Travels, said.
But he added that travellers may well opt for destinations within the country. “Travellers are now looking at alternate foreign destinations from India, such as Sri Lanka and Bhutan for summer travel. There is a hike in enquires to domestic destinations such as Andaman & Nicobar, Goa, Ujjain, northeast, among others,” Chopra of Yatra.com added.
Bajpai of Ixigo agrees. "While there is a slowdown in the top countries impacted, there is still a demand to travel to other areas. On the international front, people are still actively booking their vacations for places like Sri lanka, Maldives, Vietnam, Thailand & Bhutan. We expect the situation to improve closer to the summer travel season. "
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