CHENNAI: Falling rupee and increase in hotel tariffs have made overseas vacations expensive for Indians this summer. The Y-o-Y increase is in the range of 15%-20% for April-June period,when compared with the same period last year, and tour operators are passing on the hike to travellers.
The impact is more for the European destinations, followed by Southeast Asian countries. However, it has not discouraged travel plans of people, as more Indians are booking for exotic destinations.
Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) president Rajiv Mehra says, the current 15%-20% rise is the steepest since 2017-18 and 2018-19, where both the years had witnessed similar jump in the cost of international tour packages due to rupee depreciation. “The cost of tour packages has gone up because dollar is expensive. Moreover, unprecedented rush in hill stations in India are making domestic air travel and hotels expensive. So, people are looking at overseas destinations,” he said. Announcements of free e-visas by several countries to attract Indian tourists has kindled their interest, he added.
The rupee fell 51 paise to close at 87.2 per dollar on Tuesday, marking its sharpest decline in three weeks. It weakened to an all-time low of 87.95 against dollar on Feb 10.
Sriharan Balan, MD of Madura Travel Service said, standalone tour operators have been hit as dollar is becoming stronger. “Normally, advance bookings for Europe start in Dec every year and we commit a price on tour packages. When it becomes expensive, we have to pass it onto customers, which is challenging as they will not accept it.Moreover, the outbound tourism for Chinese has revived post-Covid and it is one of the reasons for the rising hotel tariffs globally,” he added.
Travel fintech SanKash is experiencing a 67% YoY rise in value of loans disbursed for April-June this year over the corresponding period of 2024.