As Covid Curbs Ease, Indians Splurge On Business Class, 5-Star Hotels

According to India’s second-largest online travel agency, Indians are holidaying lavishly now, spending more on five-star hotels and booking business-class seats as the country recovers from the coronavirus pandemic that halted travel for two years.

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

As travel becomes more convenient and the country opens up to international travel, an increasing number of Indians are taking to the skies, with pent-up demand driving travel needs for millions of people stuck at home. Before the pandemic, India was the world’s fastest-growing major aviation market, and local traffic is expected to surpass pre-pandemic levels of 415,000 daily fliers within a year. As international flights resumed on Sunday, Indian airlines are adding capacity to meet the increased demand.

India may need to add as many as 120 planes per year to prepare for the travel rebound, according to Indian Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, who urged local airlines to expand their fleet of widebody aircraft needed for international operations.

According to Pitti, bookings for business class seats on flights and five-star hotels have already doubled as a percentage of total reservations compared to pre-pandemic levels. According to him, Indians are now planning 4.7-day vacations on average, up from 3.2 days before Covid. EaseMyTrip is a website run by Easy Trip Planners Ltd. that allows users to book flights, trains, hotels, buses, and taxis online. EaseMyTrip’s ads, which went public last year, will continue to be profitable, according to Pitti. According to him, the company’s net income for the year ending March 31 likely exceeded 9 billion rupees ($118 million), up from 6.1 billion rupees ($80 million) the previous year.

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