Many Indian travellers have changed their plans of a holiday in foreign destination in favour of a cheaper domestic location given the sharp slide in rupee’s value, which has hit their travel budgets, but have not cancelled the plan altogether, says a survey.
According to travel site TripAdvisor’s Traveller Sentiment Survey, while inflation, falling rupee and high airfares seem to be primary among factors impacting holiday budgets, 75 per cent of those surveyed say they are modifying holiday plans and not abandoning them.
“The survey indicates that while budgetary concerns, economic uncertainty and the weakening rupee are driving travellers to alter their holidays, but they don’t seem ready to abandon their vacation plans as yet,” TripAdvisor India Country Manager Nikhil Ganju said.
“Though the balance may have tipped marginally in favour of domestic holidays, overall holiday estimates remain healthy with 60 per cent respondents still looking at taking between two to four holidays this year,” he added.
About 19 per cent respondents said they replaced their international holiday with a domestic one on account of the staggering fall in rupee value. This will give impetus to domestic tourism as domestic holidays show no detraction from travellers’ estimates for 2013 taken at the beginning of the year, indicating that domestic vacations stay stable.
While 36 per cent respondents said their international holiday plans stood unchanged, 16 per cent picked a more economical foreign destination for their vacation than initially planned. Only 10 per cent respondents said they cancelled their foreign holiday for this year altogether.
