Short weekend trips gaining ground

Their pockets shrinking, travellers are opting for budgeted holidaying.

At a time when the business for travel companies has come down by 25-30 per cent, bookings for weekend travel have gone up by 17-35 per cent as people are looking to travel for shorter durations and to closer tourist destinations.

There has been a 37 per cent increase in weekend getaway bookings on Travelguru, a hotel and air ticket booking website. “The improvement in weekend bookings is encouraging for us. Travellers are opting for weekend trips over long-end trips,” says Ashwin Damera, Founder & CEO, Travelguru.

With a usual weekend trip spanning two nights and three days, the average transaction size for such a trip has increased by 10 per cent.

Hotels are giving special discounts during weekends in order to cash in on the new trend. “Our hotel rooms are available at 50 per cent discount during weekends. Bookings during weekends have gone up by 5-7 per cent even though there is a decline in the overall business due to the recession,” says Manoj Thapa, general manager, The Atrium, Claridges.

As consumers find their pocket shrinking due to salary cuts and layoffs, the overall spending behaviour of travellers has changed drastically with reduction in travel costs and comforts. “People are trying to save on the airline cost by choosing destinations that are close to their cities. People from Delhi are going to places like Shimla, Nainital, Mussorie and Jaipur while people from Mumbai are opting for Lonavala, Panchgani and Mahabaleshwar,” says Richa Goyal Sikri, director, Group Business Development, STIC Travel Group.

Deepanjan Bhattacharya, an executive with a multinational company, just came back from a trip to Jaipur on the eve of Holi. “Going to Jaipur was value for money as my friend and I went by road and saved the cost of air travel. We spent around Rs 4,000 for two nights and three days”, says Bhattacharya.