Comments
With general elections round the corner, politics can perhaps be called the flavour of the season.
But, does it mean Indians will tweak their travel plans for summer, which is election time as well as the peak travel season?
Darshan Maheshwari, Country Manager of travel services firm Trafalgar (India), said: “An election does have an impact, but the relevance and scale have decreased compared to the past.” Chiranjib Biswas, Destination Manager, Kenya Tourist Board, added: “The general elections might cause a temporary dip in the tourism sector as Indians mostly go on vacation when schools have summer holidays. This year, the tourist movement is expected to slow down during this period because of the elections.”
Wait-and-see Switzerland Tourism, which is targeting an increase in visitors from India, is hopeful people will travel despite the political scenario.
Stephan Heuberger, Director - India, Switzerland Tourism, said: “We hope we can expand 10 per cent this calendar year even though we had a slow start. Though an election year, we are hopeful that people will travel. Many have adopted a wait-and-see approach, but once the political situation clears, I believe they would want to travel.”
Kenya, too, expects that once the elections are over, travel will pick up. “This is just a temporary phase. Again, after the general elections, we will witness more MICE (meetings-incentive-conferences-events) and travel bookings,” said Biswas. India is at present Kenya’s biggest source market in Asia.
Late bookings Trafalgar is currently witnessing late booking trends, especially from Delhi. But “one can expect to see the pent-up demand erupt in the second half of the year,” said Maheshwari. “Moreover, mature Indian travellers have now moved their travel plans to the best season months of July to August, rather than the peak months of May and June.” Madhavan Menon, MD of Thomas Cook (India) Ltd, said: “While we have not observed cancellations of vacation travel, our sales teams have indicated that travellers are planning their itineraries to ensure that they are able to vote.”
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.