Southeast Asia woos Indians with more flight seats and free visas

South East Asian countries, confronted with slower-than-expected growth from China, are w
ooing Indian tourists by offering more capacity, newer destinations with direct flights, and free visa entry.

According to OAG Aviation data, the India to southeast Asian nations route operated more than double the number of seats at eight million, compared to 3.8 million between India and southeast Asia in Q3 2019 just before the pandemic.

What was striking about Q3 2023 was that the number of airline seats between China and southeast Asia was 53 per cent of the 2019 levels, or 4.24 million seats.
 

Contrast this with the India-south east Asia route where the number of seats was just 7 per cent lower at 3.5 million seats which effectively reduced the gap with China. The number of seats between India and Singapore, for instance, is up by 13 per cent at 1.5 million seats in Q3 2023 over 2019 in the same quarter, according to OAG Aviation.

Vietnam has become a popular destination for Indians with low cost carriers like Vietjet, Vietnam Airlines, and IndiGo (from Kolkata) flying there with direct flights with an additional 345,000 seats. In 2019, there were no direct flights between the two countries and the number of tourists was very low.
 

Direct flights between India and Indonesia have also seen 31,000 seats added in Q3 2023. That is primarily because IndiGo started a direct flight between Mumbai and Jakarta in August. Prior to this, Indonesia was not connected with direct flights.   
 

Some routes still have a substantial gap in seat capacity such as between India and Thailand — lower by 29 per cent in Q3 2023 over pre-pandemic Q3 2019. But even here, the Thai government has announced waiver of visa fee for Indians from November 10 to May 10 next year to encourage travel. The visa exemption for Indians will be for a 30-day stay in the country.  
 

Thailand has seen a 60 per cent fall in seats from pre-Covid level on the China route. Thailand used to be a top destination for Chinese tourists but seat capacity has fallen.   
 

Explaining the capacity growth and the greater focus on luring Indians to southeast Asia, Anil Kalsi, vice-president of the Travel Agents Federation of India said: “Lots of Indians are not only travelling to southeast Asia for short holidays, but they are also spending more than tourists from China. That is why they are so attractive. And direct flights, which save time, and visa waivers are encouraging more to fly.”  Kalsi says airlines are leveraging key destinations for India through direct flights. For instance, Vistara has announced direct flights from Delhi-Bali from December 1 which will cut travel time substantially as well as reduce the air fare.

Aviation experts say that IndiGo is expected to have flights to Jakarta from more destinations in India.
 

There are also discussions about a low-cost carrier starting a direct flight from Delhi to the popular Thai destination of Chiang Mai.
 

Vietjet, which earlier connected only Delhi and Mumbai with Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, now offers services from Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Bengaluru.
 

Even Garuda of Indonesia wants to add some flights to India.