With India’s key festive season beginning with Ganesh Chaturthi followed by Navratri/Durga Puja-Dusshera and Diwali, and with schools closing for their mid-term break, Indians across segments are displaying an increased appetite to travel. To capitalise on the high demand during this peak festive period, Thomas Cook (India) Limited – India’s leading omnichannel travel services company and its Group Company, SOTC Travel, have launched an extensive range of Festive Holidays across International and Domestic destinations – with a range of special offers and deals.
The festive season represents India’s second largest travel period and Thomas Cook and SOTC’s internal data reiterates the strong demand, not just from metros but also mini-metros, and tier 2-3 cities with a significant 74% respondents indicating intent to travel. Key segments driving demand for the festive season include:
- Multi-generational families/couples: 78% looking for quality bonding time together
- India’s migrant working professional segment: 66% keen to travel home and celebrate with their families
- Millennials: 71% open to a mini-cation with their group of friends or a solo break
- Indians are quintessential value seekers and hence to accelerate bookings, the Companies have announced an array of special deals like Buy One Get One Free, Early Bird Discounts, Travel Now Pay Later on select destinations/tours.
Destination leading demand include short haul/easy visa destinations like Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Maldives, Mauritius; also, Nepal and Bhutan in the Indian subcontinent. Most preferred long and mid haul destinations are USA (for visa holding customers), Australia, New Zealand, Turkey, Jordan, Egypt, Europe, UK; domestic favourites include Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Ladakh, Rajasthan, Kerala and Goa.
Cruise holidays represent a great value proposition: an all-inclusive holiday packed with entertainment/activities across age groups, diversity of dining experiences and sailing to multiple locations with on-shore sightseeing tours – without the hassle of check-in/check-out, transfers, etc.
With cruises witnessing a surge in demand, Thomas Cook and SOTC are offering value deals on cruise holidays like children under 18 years of age travel free on Costa Cruise’s Dubai sailings, discounted prices on select Royal Caribbean and NCL (Norwegian Cruise Lines) Cruises for Europe.
India’s couples and solo travellers (30-45 yrs) are displaying a strong preference for spiritual tours that include meditation, yoga, and wellness programs like the Yoga Centre/Ashram in Coimbatore, Dharamshala, and Rishikesh; Panchakarma program at Kumar Akom, etc.
Thomas Cook and SOTC’s festive range of offers also extend to it’s ready-to-book and personalised experiences including outdoor and adventure activities like safari game drives at India’s leading national reserves, biking, hiking/trekking, camping, white water rafting, paragliding, etc. Additionally, the Companies also offer
“Further, customers can make the most of our air-inclusive holidays with Vistara Getaways, Air Arabia Holidays and Emirates Holidays. And to accelerate demand, we have launched a range of unbeatable offers like Buy One Get One Free, Holiday Now Pay on Return, early bird specials, etc,” Kale added.
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