Foreign travel demand high despite weak rupee as firms absorb cost increase

Thomas Cook said it was seeing early requests for tour related forex transactions to lock in the rate

Foreign leisure trips are 7-10 per cent costlier because of the rupee's weakness. Demand, however, remains strong and many customers are paying 60 days in advance to lock in better rates, say tour operators.

Travel services firm Thomas Cook India has seen 30 per cent overall growth in winter tours this year, with demand mainly for short-haul destinations such as Bali, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and locations in Southeast Asia. There has been 26 per cent growth in forward bookings for packages next summer.

“Our data indicates that impact of currency fluctuations is limited, with 25 per cent of our group travellers indicating