Weakening rupee makes long-haul travel costlier in 2025, data shows

Weak rupee and higher airfares are pushing up overseas travel costs for Indians, with long-haul destinations seeing package prices rise by up to 14% in 2025

India’s outbound travel became costlier in 2025 with packages for destinations across US, Europe, Australia, the Maldives and some island nations rose by up to 14 per cent from 2024, according to data from Cox & Kings. The price escalations could be a response to the rupee breaching the 91-per-dollar mark last week.

 

Airfares on long-haul routes which are closely linked to dollar pricing, such as India-US, India-Canada, and select West Asia sectors, have seen fare increases of 10-28 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) driven by fuel costs, currency pressures, and sustained demand. The falling Indian currency has been hurting travel budgets over the past few years. In 2023, long-haul international airfares from India rose 20-40 per cent.

 

This currency movement alone translates into a 6-8 per cent increase in package costs in rupee terms for select destinations. When this is combined with higher airfares and supplier pricing, the total increase for Indian travellers typically ranges between 8 per cent and 14 per cent for comparable packages. With airfares being a key inflationary factor for outbound travel in 2025 — particularly on long-haul and dollar-linked routes — flights between India and North America, Europe, and Australia have become expensive by 6-20 per cent (Y-o-Y).

 

Hari Ganapathy, co-founder, Pickyourtrail, said that in the overall package in the short term for the US, Maldives, parts of the West Asia, and certain island nations may approximately 5-10 per cent, depending on how much of the trip cost is dollar-denominated, particularly accommodation, internal transfers, and attraction tickets. As a result, up to 49 per cent of travellers deliberately adjusted travel windows to manage budgets, redirecting the savings into upgrades and experiences rather than reducing trip quality in 2025, as per Pickyourtrail’s 2025 Insights.

 

“Airfares on long-haul routes linked closely to dollar pricing, such as India–USA, India–Canada, and select Middle East sectors, have seen fare increases in the range of 9 to 28 per cent YoY driven by fuel costs, currency pressures, and sustained demand,” said Ganapathy, adding that a similar pattern was observed in 2023, as long-haul international airfares from India rose sharply by 20 to 40 per cent, while short-haul regional routes experienced muted fare increases, up to five per cent.

 

Meanwhile, this year saw several short-haul international destinations like Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Nepal see its package costs decline by approximately 8 to 18 per cent Y-o-Y. Karan Agarwal, director, Cox and Kings, explained that this was due to a mix of favourable local currency movements, aggressive airline competition on short-haul routes, and relatively stable hotel and ground costs.

 

Travel snapshot 

• 8-14% rise in travel packages for long trips to USA, Europe, UK, Australia, Canada
• 49% of travellers deliberately adjusted travel windows to manage budgets
• Vietnam, Thailand, Sri Lanka, and Cambodia saw overall trip costs reducing by around 5-15%
• With average daily costs of around ₹1,400-1,500 covering accommodation, food, and local transportation, Laos was the most economical option for Indians
• Türkiye, Georgia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland became relatively cheap due to stable local currencies against the rupee
• 2025 saw a significant drop in winter European trips by 20-30% compared to summer 

Source: Cox & Kings, EaseMyTrip, Pickyourtrail