Travel companies get holiday bonanza

Hyderabad: The four-day long holiday starting from Thursday for some employees has given a big boost to the business of travel operators and hospitality sectors.

“Hectic lifestyles and conflicting schedules have led to weekend travel picking up in a big way. For the upcoming Easter weekend travel, we have seen a huge spike in flight and hotel bookings,” said Mohit Gupta, head, online business, MakeMyTrip.com.

Most of these bookings, travel advisors claim, were done at the last minute — typically two days before the actual travel date.

According to experts, the trend of last-minute booking has increased in the recent times mainly because of hectic and conflicting schedules of family members. “Unlike olden days, modern travellers don’t make pre-planned travel,” he said.

Interesting, 45 per cent of hotel bookings were done by using mobiles — the fact that attests the trend of last-minute bookings. “There has been a 150 per cent growth in flight bookings, via mobiles thus driving a 40 per cent overall year on year growth.”

Out of the top 10 cities, the company claims that Bengaluru tops with 220 per cent year-on-year growth in mobile bookings for flights, followed by Goa (191 per cent), Mumbai (180 per cent) Delhi (180 per cent), and Hyderabad (170 per cent).