Mumbai/New Delhi: It’s a price war that promises to send the cost of your summer break plunging this year. Lean times for the travel industry could spell a bonanza for the traveller with a slew of packages, discounts and deals by travel portals, hotels and airlines.
Taking stock
Lifestyle Holidays, promoted by Bulls and Bears Finance Ltd, is offering to buy shares from travellers in return for holiday packages. It is accepting equity shares of 72 firms and is even willing to pay a premium of 10% for those stocks. Mandar Sahasrabudhe, assistant manager (operations), Lifestyle Holidays, says the firm is willing to buy shares of companies including Reliance Industries Ltd, Reliance Communications Ltd, ICICI Bank Ltd, Jet Airways (India) Ltd, DLF Ltd, Colgate-Palmolive India Ltd and companies of the Tata group.
Sri Lanka
Wadia Group-promoted GoAirlines (India) Pvt. Ltd is offering base fares of zero to all destinations in a bid to fill in empty seats. Rival carriers, including SpiceJet Ltd, IndiGo and JetLite (India) Ltd, have introduced base fares of Rs875, where a passenger can get a Mumbai-Delhi one-way ticket for a little more than Rs2,500, all inclusive.
Online travel agent MakeMyTrip India Pvt. Ltd has something different to offer—the option to book villas, service apartments and holiday homes in 60 countries across the world. Both leisure and business travellers can choose from at least 110,000 options of vacation house rentals. The service apartments will also serve as an option for business travellers who need to stay overseas for an extended period of time. And that’s not all. Accommodation options range from budget properties ($70, or Rs3,577, a night) to luxury properties ($200 a night).
Hard times
So what’s the logic behind these deals? “Overall, the downturn has affected the airline industry. But the problem is that the incentive to buy in advance is missing. We need to urgently bring the leisure travellers back,” says Keyur Joshi, chief operating officer, MakeMyTrip.
Adds Rajji Rai, president of the Travel Agents Association of India, “There is a 15-20% downturn in the tourism industry. Both inbound and outbound tour operators are desperately trying to retain their profits. Add to all this the fact that the airline industry across the board is fighting for survival. Things are only going to be more depressing in the coming months.”
But then are these deals really cheaper? Pooja Shukla, a Mumbai-based teacher and her husband, an investment banker, recently bought an eight-night/nine-day tour package from a city tour operator to Bangkok and Malaysia. “The tour package worked out at least 45% cheaper as compared to last year. This was mainly due to low airline fares and discounted hotel room rates,” she says.