FESTIVE ESCAPADES
Out-of-home Diwali celebrations are setting a new milieu in the festive season for upwardly mobile folks, says TAPAPRIYA LAHIRI.
Festivity is in the air! And the young folks are leaving no stone unturned to celebrate it in a magnificent way. Since ages, Deepavali or Diwali — ‘Festival of Lights’— is distinguished with utmost grandeur within the premises of home. But this year, there is a contemporary shift in planning; people are showing immense interest in vacationing to diverse locales with their families and friends. Diwali is known as a festival of homecoming, but the growing concept of nuclear families is prompting to enjoy festivities in a cult way. The traditional concept of performing Diwali puja at home is slowly taking a back seat and young families are opting for holidaying to break the monotony from daily glitches of professional life. It seems that summer holidays have out shadowed the festive vacation trend.
Wait! And catering to the most anticipated long weekend, umpteen numbers of travel and stay portals have upped the sleeves and rolled out exquisite international and domestic budget deals on flights, hotels and home stays to indulge in serenity and tranquility. The upwardly mobile folks with their disposable income are firmly choosing for a vacation — either a luxurious international destination or budget domestic short breaks — to be a part of remarkable Diwali celebration. Online travel and stay portals have well-understood the drift of visiting friends and relatives (VFR) and people are planning their retreats from past two months.
Breaking the monotony
Respondents are ready to relieve their tedious work schedules by pampering mind, body and soul in travel hideaways. A market survey unveiled by Via.com states, this year fair ratio of respondents have chosen to travel during Diwali. While witnessing overwhelming response, Kousik Bhattacharya, Head – Marketing and B2C Business, Via.com said, “This survey is executed after seeing the surge in the domestic bookings, which have grown by 60 percent, similarly, holiday bookings for international destinations have also surged by 50 percent.”
Young respondents have booked their favourite hill stations and beaches, which is well-crafted by the online travel aggregators to commemorate the festive season and to avoid hustle-bustle amid city skylines. Professionals from every walk of life are choosing celebrate out-of-home Diwali followed by a long festive weekend. Jayanta Ray, a Telecom Professional at Adtiya Birla Group, overwhelmed with joy said, “I have planned my holiday way before as I came to know Diwali is followed by a long weekend which drove me to book an international destination. I will be off to Malaysia with my family this time.” Similarly, Marina Datta, a management professional at Philips Lighting India is very excited for their upcoming festive travel plans. “This time, I and my husband have opted for distinct locales of Coorg and Chigmagalur in south India to give our lives, a rejuvenating retreat. The reason behind celebrating Diwali out-of-home is, throughout the year we are in a mad race of building our career. We have welcomed the change by breaking the conventional barrier.”
“Serenity of beaches attracts me a lot” said, Preeti Agarwal, an independent interior designer professional. Preeti added, “Since childhood, we have been the part of traditional Diwali celebrations within our home and community. But, this time I felt, we should celebrate it in a different way and leisure travelling is a great stress-buster. I will be off to Goa with my friends
Diwali destinations
In the travel, tourism and hospitality industry, location plays an imperative role to increase the growth in business. Flying to diverse destinations are not a lone concern for them, respondents are searching for chic and quaint home stays which feels very closer to their home and heart. Ankit Rastogi — VP, Marketplace, Stayzilla.com — accommodation aggregator and home stay network — said, “We have carved a niche by breaking the conventional approach and the young folks have set their travel goal high by travelling to beach locales, either Goa or Gokarna, Coorg and Chigmagalur in south India. The hill stations in the North India and North-East are the preferred list too.”
He added, “We have a fair spike in bookings during the festive season and this year-long weekend is playing a strategic role in boosting the business in retrospect with the season and change in the psyche of the consumers.”
The increasing demand of home stays are set to reveal the experience of rich local flavours of different locales and creating informal accommodations. To counter the competition and urban psyche of celebrating festivity, there is a new entrant, Airbnb — one of the global market leader in home stays — is gaining a business space in the great Indian festive travel mart. Amanpreet Bajaj, Country Manager-India, Airbnb added, “India is a strategic market for us and the community-driven hospitality services catering to cozy home stays is drawing more attention.” Amanpreet also added, “The festive checklist also includes, international destinations such as Dubai, Macau, Singapore and Thailand are most chosen by people, and for domestic travel, the most sought-after places include Goa, Andaman, North-East, Kerala, Rajasthan and Gujarat.”
Omni-channel approach – The growth drivers
With a changing festive fad, it can termed as a ‘great Indian business time’ for the travel and stay portals to count on mounting profits. Respondents are making a virtual queue to grab the slashed deals in flight tickets and hotels. With an emergent boom in online travel and stay gateways, aggregators are approaching the right target audience and investing big bucks for connecting the entire gamut of travel and stay with a great virtual opulence. With the advent of smartphone booking, young folks are always glued to their phone screens and frequently browses travel and stay offers which suits them best. The extended survey has also revealed that, due to onmi-channel sales or multi-channel approach, there is a steep decline in demand for travel agents. Now, the most preferred medium of booking is through desktop, mobile and tablet. This Diwali, young professionals are ready to unleash and navigate their leisure travel plans to be part of festive travel bandwagon, what is yours?
“WE HAVE A FAIR SPIKE IN BOOKINGS DURING THE FESTIVE SEASON AND THIS YEAR-LONG WEEKEND IS PLAYING A STRATEGIC ROLE IN BOOSTING THE BUSINESS IN RETROSPECT WITH THE SEASON AND CHANGE IN THE PSYCHE OF THE CONSUMERS.” Ankit Rastogi, VP - Marketplace, Stayzilla.com