Shruthi Muddaiah from Gurugram enjoyed her family’s nine-day trip to Darjeeling and Gangtok, which spanned the two long holidays of Holi and Good Friday.

However, the increasing Covid-9 cases across the country paid off for her plans when she decided to cancel the trip.

In the week from March 29th to April 4th, the perfect time for a 3-day short break or a longer 8-10-day vacation, hotel bookings were down 18 percent compared to the previous week from March 22nd to 28th with insights from RateGain

RateGain is a SaaS company serving over 12,000 customers in the travel and hospitality industries in more than 191 countries.

Covid feared

Cities like Pondicherry saw bookings drop 53 percent while both Alwar and Delhi NCR saw bookings drop 51 percent. Lucknow and Chandigarh were -43 percent and -41 percent, respectively; Shimla and Jaipur were -39 percent and -19 percent, respectively.

“One of the main reasons the bookings decrease during a perfectly good time of year for vacation is the rise in coronavirus cases that are making people want to avoid travel. As it’s the end of the fiscal year, people are busy with their closings and another reason family travel is being postponed is due to exams, ”said Kamesh Shukla, EPP and Head of APMEA, RateGain.

Goa was the most booked travel destination according to Booking.com, while New Delhi and Jaipur were among the top three most booked travel destinations from Holi through Easter (March 27 to April 4). In addition to hotels, domestic travelers also opted for resorts, guest houses and host families.

IntrCity, the country’s largest tech-based mobility brand with its SmartBus network, recorded a slight 1 percent drop in national bookings in the week from March 29 to April 4 compared to the previous week. “The total decrease in bookings of 1 percent is mainly due to the different demand in Punjab. However, we saw growth of 10 to 15 percent month-over-month in March, particularly in the major business centers in 14 states where our fleet operates. This is because traveling between cities directly supports livelihood and staying at home is not an option for people. March also tends to be a relatively slower month from a travel perspective, and we expect volume to pick up from late April, ”said Kapil Raizada, co-founder of IntrCity.

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