Travel bookings surge 5-fold for Holi, Good Friday holidays, temple towns to see big rush

These diverse celebrations showcase the rich cultural landscape of India, where Holi is embraced with local customs and regional variations. (Representational Image).

Travel demand has shot up five-fold as Holi and Good Friday throw up a nine-day holiday opportunity at a cost of just three days off from work.

Online travel aggregators (OTAs) that have been recording a surge in demand for weekend breaks and short vacations now see a similar trend for the upcoming holidays of Holi and Good Friday.

While Holi falls on a March 25, Good Friday is on March 29, which give the opportunity of clubbing two consecutive long weekends by taking three days off to make the most of a nine-day holiday.

Travel companies are making the most of it as travel demand spike nearly five-fold for the Holi weekend, compared to the last year.

"We have seen a 46 percent year-on-year increase in flight searches for Holi travel this year. Domestic fares for popular routes have shot up 25-30 percent in the last week of March as travellers are making most of the back-to-back long weekend on account of Holi and Good Friday holidays. International travel is also picking up with Dubai, Singapore, Bali and Bangkok emerging as traveller favourites this Holi," said Aloke Bajpai, Chairman, managing director and Group CEO of Ixigo.

Spiritual hotspots

Among domestic destinations, flight bookings to Amritsar, Prayagraj, and Bhubaneshwar show a growth of about 20 percent over last year, said Rajesh Magow, co-founder and group CEO of MakeMyTrip. He added that hotel bookings for religious destinations such as Puri, Varanasi, and Amritsar have doubled, emerging as the second most preferred category after beaches.

Indians are travelling to locales connected to the life and times of Lord Krishna like Radha Krishna's Brij Bhoomi and Huranga to experience the world-famous Holi celebrations, Nandgaon to witness Lathmar, a ritual play of village women, Barsana, where Holi enthusiasts throng the Radharani temple, and Ladoo Mar, a ceremony at the Banke Bihare temple in Vrindavan," pointed out Thomas Cook.

Goa remains at the top in terms of most preferred destination via flight for the upcoming long weekends of Holi and Good Friday, followed by Srinagar, Guwahati, Port Blair and Bagdogra.

"Our data indicates surge from not only from metros and mini-metros, but also our regional tier 2 and 3 cities," said Daniel D’souza, president and country head of SOTC Travel.

Internationally, short-haul favourites include the UAE, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia, while top long-haul destinations are the UK, US, Australia, Japan and Germany. "We’re also seeing emerging popularity for destinations like Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, and South Korea during this period," Magow said.

High demand for hotels

For hotels, Magow said that Udaipur and Jaipur in Rajasthan, as well as Puri and Varanasi, are witnessing the highest bookings after Goa. "Srinagar, Katra, Coorg and Ooty are also emerging as popular destinations, showing significant year-on-year growth. While mid-category rooms remain the most booked, the share of premium bookings is higher than usual by close to 10 percent," he added.

The hotel industry is expecting a spike in reservations in the range of 30- to 35 percent over the previous year, said Pradeep Shetty, president of the Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI).

"In cultural hotspots like Agra and Varanasi, hotels are full of excitement due to a notable surge in demand with half of their rooms reserved. It is evident how excited people are about the strong rebound in travel," he said.

Occupancy is 70 percent at Radisson Blu Palace Resort & Spa, Udaipur, said  Chairman and MD, Somesh Agarwal, who added that the weekends have been sold out already.

March will be a key month for individual and family travellers ahead of school exams and the long weekend of the Holi festival, said Akash Gupta, General Manager of Mayfair Spring Valley (hotel), Guwahati. "Holi weekend is almost at the edge of getting fully sold out in advance booking."

Wyndham hotels is recording high level of occupancy in in hill stations such as Mussoorie, Kasauli, and Dehradun, said Nikhil Sharma, Market Managing Director, Eurasia, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts. "Leisure hotspots like Goa and Jaipur are witnessing a similar surge, evidenced by the high volume of bookings," he said.

Holi travel trends

Bus travel for the Holi weekend is also seeing an uptick with redBus recording a 55 percent increase in bookings. Destinations like Delhi and Lucknow have registered 48 percent and 45 percent increase in people traveling to these destinations respectively.

Given the longer duration of two weekends, spends for the upcoming holidays are estimated to have increased by 25 percent, said Rajeev Kale, president and country head for holidays at MICE, Visa, Thomas Cook (India) Limited.

Some of the trends that travel companies have witnessed for the upcoming Holi weekend include domestic travel witnessing an uptick with a share of 70 percent in terms of travel bookings as compared to international destinations at 30 percent.

Indians are choosing to drive to destinations that are closer to come, resulting in 25 percent increase with length of stay increasing from 3-4 days to 5-7 days. Travellers in and around Delhi are opting for destinations including Naukuchiatal, Munsiyari, among others; those traveling from Maharashtra and Gujarat are preferring Sindhudurg, Kolad, and places like Hampi, Gokarna, Coorg, is being explored by Karnataka and Tamil Nadu travellers for this Holi weekend, according to Thomas Cook data.

In addition, there has been a 30 percent increase in interest for outdoor and adventure travel with biking trips in Srinagar, Leh, Manali. White water rafting in Rishikesh, paragliding in Shillong, camping in Jaisalmer, trekking in Sikkim, snowboarding in Auli Pahalgam and Safari in Pench, Ranthambore are some of the activities Indian travellers are exploring.