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Indians are holidaying lavishly now, spending more on five-star hotels and booking business-class seats as the country emerges from the coronavirus pandemic that restricted travel for two years, according to the South Asian nation’s second-biggest online travel agency.

“People are living their lives and splurging on travel,” Prashant Pitti, a co-founder of EaseMyTrip, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television on Monday. “It’s a shift which is happening for good, for long-term.”

More and more Indians are taking to the skies as travel curbs ease and the country opens up international travel, with pent-demand driving travel needs for millions stuck at home. India, the world’s fastest-growing major aviation market before the pandemic, expects local traffic to exceed pre-pandemic levels of 415,000 daily fliers within a year. Indian airlines are also adding capacity to capture the revival in demand as international flights resumed from Sunday.

Bookings for business class seats on flights and five-star hotels have already doubled compared to pre-pandemic numbers as a percentage of total reservations, Pitti said. Indians are now planning holidays of 4.7 days on average, compared with 3.2 days before Covid, he said. Operated by Easy Trip Planners Ltd., EaseMyTrip offers online bookings for flights, trains, hotels, buses and cabs.

EaseMyTrip, which sold shares to the public last year, will continue to grow profitably, Pitti said. The company’s net income likely surpassed 9 billion rupees ($118 million) for the year ending March 31, jumping from 6.1 billion rupees ($80 million) previous year, he said.

While airfares have jumped “quite dramatically” in the last few weeks as carriers tried to offset a rise in oil prices, the increase will be short-lived, said Pitti.

“India is looking great, in lines to recover very rapidly from the onslaught which we all have been through in the last two years,” he said. “The pent-up demand won’t shorten for next couple of years.”

Also Read:-Banks never got back money from defaulters under UPA govt: Nirmala Sitharaman

Sitharaman also said in the Lok Sabha that actions have been taken, including registration of FIRs, against those who have cheated small savings depositors through various fraudulent activities.

She said the Reserve Bank of India is also monitoring activities of App based financial companies.

Responding to questions by DMK’s T R Baalu about the government’s action against loan defaulters and NPAs, the minister said “writing off” loans does not mean “complete waive off” and the banks are following every loan to recover the outstanding amount.

“Over Rs 10,000 crore, I am saying ‘over’ as I don’t want to disclose the actual figure, have been recovered by PSU banks from loan defaulters after taking over their assets.

Sitharaman’s remarks invited sharp reaction and protests from Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.

The finance minister said the opposition party must listen to the “bitter truth” and alleged that the loans were given during the previous UPA regime due to political considerations.

Earlier, the minister said the Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance Bill, 2017 (FRDI Bill) was introduced in the Lok Sabha in August, 2017 and thereafter was referred to the Joint Committee of Parliament for examination and report thereon. The main objective of the FRDI Bill was to create a specialised resolution mechanism for select financial sector entities.

The government had withdrawn the FRDI Bill in August, 2018 for further comprehensive examination and reconsideration of the subject.

The government has not taken a decision to bring a new law to provide for a legal framework for resolution of financial firms, she said.

Sitharaman said with a view to provide a greater measure of protection to depositors in banks, the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC) has raised the limit of insurance cover for depositors in insured banks from the level of Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh per depositor with effect from February 4, 2020 with the approval of the central government.

Also Read:Travel insurance to gain prominence in post-COVID world

The minister said the government has already notified the Insolvency and Bankruptcy (Insolvency and Liquidation Proceedings of Financial Service Providers and Application to Adjudicating Authority) Rules, 2019 on November 15, 2019 to provide a generic framework for insolvency and liquidation proceedings of systemically important Financial Service Providers (FSPs) other than banks.

Subsequently, she said, the government has also notified on November 18, 2019, that the insolvency resolution and liquidation proceedings of the Non-Banking Finance Companies (including housing finance companies) with asset size of Rs 500 crore or more shall be undertaken in accordance with the provisions of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (IBC, 2016).

Accordingly, the framework to deal with the select Non-Banking Finance Companies is already in place under IBC, 2016, she said.

India’s tourism sector is counting on the upcoming May-June travel season to finally leave the pandemic blues behind, with people already starting to make their summer vacation plans.

Almost 84 percent of Indians plan to spend on leisure travel either domestically or internationally in the next four to six weeks, according to a survey by SurveyMonkey. About 35 percent of the respondents are considering travel overseas in the next few months and the remaining are looking to unwind at popular local destinations.

Airlines in India expect domestic traffic to recover to pre-pandemic levels from May – compared with the 85 percent mark hit so far – if another wave of Covid-19 infections does not hit the country. Hotels and the tourism sector are also eyeing a recovery after two years of disruptions.

According to Vipul Prakash, chief operating officer at MakeMyTrip, an online travel company, sentiment is rising every week and will hopefully surpass previously recorded numbers in the coming months.

Prakash said his company has already achieved 100 percent recovery in the flight segment compared to pre-Covid levels and leisure travel bookings will continue to lead the recovery as the summer holiday season approaches.

Pradeep Shetty, joint secretary of the Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India, said there has been a gradual uptick in hotel bookings since March, and May and June are expected to be even better on account of the holiday season.

Travel demand is likely to increase by 150 percent on-year in hubs such as New Delhi and Mumbai, according to a report by RateGain Travel Technologies.

Domestic Tourism

Holidaymakers domestically are eyeing popular hotspots Goa, Srinagar, Dehradun, Pondicherry, Mysore and Kochi for their planned vacations.

Search queries and bookings for May-June have so far risen about 200 percent and 40-70 percent, respectively, compared to January-March, according to data from MakeMyTrip, Yatra.com, Thomas Cook, EaseMyTrip, Ixigo and domestic airlines.

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“For the upcoming summer vacations, we are witnessing a 40 percent rise in bookings for Goa, Kashmir, Jaipur and Himachal. We are also witnessing a sharp growth in air ticket bookings to and from tier 2 and 3 cities,” said Nishant Pitti, co-founder of EaseMyTrip.

Rajeev Kale, president & country head, holidays, MICE, Visa at Thomas Cook (India), said his company had witnessed a three-fold surge in demand for the May-June compared to March-April.

Demand for travel to places of worship like Shirdi, Vrindavan, Ajmer and Bodh Gaya is also rising. Online travel agencies expect spiritual travel to rise 60-80 percent during the summer vacations.

Daniel D’Souza, president & country head - holidays, SOTC Travel, said travellers are also looking at experiences such as cruises, biking trips, wellness and yoga retreats, ayurveda treatments, vegetarian special food tours and safaris at leading national reserves.

“Based on customer interest, we have witnessed multi-generational families taking that much needed holiday, especially during festivals and extended weekends at eclectic accommodations like villa stays, tea/coffee plantations, and eco-lodges,” D’Souza said.

International tourism

Indian travellers are eyeing popular overseas tourism hotspots that are closer to home such as Dubai, Sri Lanka, Thailand and the Maldives to unwind, data collected by tourism companies shows.

Major online travel agents and airlines say that search queries have risen 90-130 percent while bookings have increased by 20-30 percent compared to levels in March.

Search queries to Dubai, Thailand, the Maldives, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Singapore have doubled since the government announced earlier this month that international flights will be opened up from March 27.

“Current data patterns on the platform indicate that 96 percent of the searches are for the coming summer holiday season, with Dubai, Thailand, the Maldives, Sri Lanka, London, Paris and Amsterdam ranking high on the consideration list of international destinations,” MakeMyTrip’s Prakash said.

International tourism continued its recovery in January, with a much better performance compared to the weak start to 2021, according to the UN World Tourism Organization. However, the Russian invasion of Ukraine adds pressure to economic uncertainties, coupled with many Covid-related travel restrictions still in place, it said on March 25.

VFS Global, the world’s largest outsourcing visa processing company, said applications for travel to Dubai, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Singapore and the Maldives have risen almost 30 percent in the past month from February.

According to Yatra.com, international travel queries have risen 130 percent in March from levels in February, while overseas bookings have risen close to 30 percent.

“Our travel queries have even surpassed pre-Covid levels in March as Indians are looking to travel to international destinations again after two years,” an official from Yatra.com said.

EaseMyTrip said enquiries for destinations such as Dubai, the Maldives, Sri Lanka, the US and Australia have seen a strong jump between May and June.

“International destinations such as Dubai and Sri Lanka have been witnessing a surge in demand, not just for longer vacations, but for short-haul weekend trips as well,” Pitti said.

Rise in luxury travel

Indian tourists are not only looking to vacation internationally but are also willing to spend more on travel with queries and bookings for premium hotels, private villas and eclectic stays rising significantly in the past month.

Our customers are displaying a clear preference for private villas with a personal chef and concierge services, villas with a backyard, pool with a deck and more for luxury stays and relaxation – with multi-generational family or groups of friends,” Kale said.

Data from Yatra.com shows that the average per person expenditure on booking a week-long holiday has risen by almost $200 (Rs 15,270), with customers booking luxury experiences like private accommodation, valet services and adventure experiences on their trips.

Booking patterns also indicate that travellers are choosing slow travel, leading to long stays when planning their first international trip after the pandemic.