Gujaratis bitten by
the travel bug
Come
Diwali and the travel bug bites the people of Gujarat. But it seems that
this year the wanderlust is more than usual. As compared to last year,
the number of Gujaratis planning to visit tourist destinations within
the country and abroad has increased drastically.
Significantly, more and more
middle class tourists are visiting foreign destinations. Their Diwali
forays are to exotic destinations in the Far East, Australia, Johannesburg,
New Zealand, Europe and Bangkok.
The number of budget tourists
has also registered an increase this time. Their favourite destinations
include Nepal, Goa, Kerala, Himachal Pradesh besides the hill stations
of Uttar Pradesh like Nainital, Mussoorie, Gangotri, Jamnotri, Badrinath
and Kedarnath.
"The number of middle-class
Gujaratis who have booked hotels in foreign destinations has increased
by 25 per cent this year", said Senior Sales Executive of Sita World
Travel (India) Ltd Mehul Kusumgar. He attributes the rise to at tractive
tourist packages and concessional air travel rates offered by national
and international airlines and travel agencies. "The middle class
tourist", says Kusumgar, "would naturally opt for Singapore
since the paltry sum of Rs 14,000, which one has to spend on air travel
to Calcutta, is being charged by the Singapore airline for its Singapore-Bombay-Singapore
Sector."
Echoing similar sentiments,
SOTC Tours branch manager Dhaval Bakshi says that as compared to last
year, the number of tourists from Gujarat who have so far booked accommodation
in five-star hotels in foreign destinations has increased by 50 per
cent. "We have booked five-star accommodation for 300 tourists planning
to visit the Far East whereas 125 others have got five-star hotel accommodation
booked in Europe", Bakshi says. SOTC Tours is one of the Gujarat-based
travel agencies which, like national and international airlines, has offered
attractive package tours to attract tourists. Bakshi says, "we also
offer a scheme under which the wife of a passenger and a child are given
free air tickets."
Goverment as well as private
travel agencies catering to budget tourists are also getting good business.
"During the first week of October this year, we generated Rs 4.70
lakh from bookings of accommodation", a UP Tourism official said.
Similarly, Himanchal Tourism
is doing good business this year. "The revenue our department has
generated from bookings this year is 20 per cent more than last year",
says the HP Tourism Assistant Manager Nitin Bhalaik Kusumgar.
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