Promote Single Price Holiday
Rajesh Magaow, Cofounder and Chief Financial & Operating Officer, MakeMyTrip opines, “Tour operators offer different kinds of pricing in the market – a single- price holiday in INR or a dual price with a Forex component and an INR component. A majority of MakeMyTrip packages are booked as a single- price ( INR) holiday. For a traveller, the best buy in a volatile market is a Single Price Holiday. This saves them from currency fluctuations and prevents the possibility of booking a holiday at one price and facing a price
We sell majority of packages as single-price holidays, so currency fluctuation does not impact
variance at the time of final payment due to Forex variance.” The company books at forward market rates to offset any actual fluctuation at the time of travel. Group package costs remain pretty static but for the flexi- itinerary traveller, incidental expenses of shopping, dining out, etc. may go up slightly. “We also sell a majority of our packages as single- price ( INR) holiday, hence currency fluctuation does not impact the overall holiday cost when it comes to balance payment at a later date,” he adds.
Vineet Raina, Vice President- Outbound, Tbi - Trail Blazer Tours India opines US and western
We have registered growth towards Eastern Europe
Europe have been hit badly due to the currency fluctuation. On the other hand, the company has seen growth from economical Eastern European countries. “Fortunately, the rupee fall has not impacted business much. We have logged growth of 20 per cent over the last year in both outbound and domestic segment. Actually, the only negative impact this year till now has been the sliding rupee. We have otherwise registered growth towards Eastern Europe, especially towards Slovenia, Croatia and Bulgaria.”
International hotel prices have largely remained unchanged
MS. Manjula, VP, Travel Air affirms, “International hotel prices have largely remained unchanged as compared to the last year. In some cases, there has been a marginal increase of about five per cent. From the bottom line perspective, corporate travel is impacted more as this segment cannot avoid business travel at any cost. Leisure travellers can still resched- ule their travel plans.” According to Jackson
Fernandez, Managing Director, Wego India, the sustained weakening of the rupee has slowly altered
Domestic travel searches have seen a surge on Wego
Indians travel preferences. Domestic travel searches have seen a surge on Wego. “However, there are few subtle trends that are apparent. For example, the destination preference has come closer to home to SEA, UAE. The search volume for domestic getaways to offbeat locales like Srinagar, Ooty, Kovalam, Nainital and Darjeeling has shown an increase,” he adds.