Far From The Madding Crowd
IT’S THAT time of the year when you want to indulge in a well-deserved holiday. It is all very well to plan an excursion on your own or with your loved ones in the last week of December or during the New Year break. But you are not alone. The world and their uncle are also headed for that jam-packed hill station, crowded beach resort or not-so-deserted desert safari, during this vacation season.
Chances are, you’ll run into vacationers jostling to get ahead of you at the adventure park or elbowing you out of the drinks queue at the bar. Plus, finding secluded and good accommodation in peak season may cost the earth. Therefore, it might be a good idea to get tips from travel professionals on beating the vacation rush.
Half the battle is won, says Ranjeet Oak, chief business officer-holidays, MakeMyTrip, if you choose the timing of your holiday well. “Europe is cheaper in the winter and one can also get better rates during early spring and late fall. It is most expensive during the summer. This applies to hotel rooms as well as air fares,” explains Oak. “Theme parks are busy over Christmas and New Year’s and again in February, but business is slower in January. So, if you can postpone your holiday by a few days in order to save a bundle of money, where is the harm?” he asks.
Apart from getting the timing of your holiday right, one good way to beat the vacation rush, says Abraham Alapatt, chief innovation officer and head – marketing and service quality, Thomas Cook India, is to take the road less travelled. “Consider flexible and economical accommodation such as village/ local stays, bed and breakfast places, youth hostels and self-drive vacations that give one time to discover the locales at a leisurely pace. It makes for better value for money, too.”
HOW EARLY BIRDS GAIN
Because of heightened demand, December is also the most expensive period to travel compared to other periods throughout the year, warns Kavitha Gnanamurthy, the Singapore-based India head of market development operations with Skyscanner, a search engine that helps people compare flights, hotels and car hiring options.
After analysing data over the last three years, Gnanamurthy says travellers should consider booking on average 18 weeks in advance, to get the lowest price on a flight from India. “Search parameters this year compared to 2014 showed that some destinations see a surge in searches by Indian travellers in December. These included Bangkok (50 per cent year-on-year increase), Dubai (47 per cent) and Singapore (46 per cent),” she says.
While planning multi-city itineraries, try booking ‘Open-Jaw’ tickets, recommends Ranjeet Oak of MakeMyTrip. “This kind of ticket, where the traveller doesn’t fly back from the same city where he first landed, is a better idea I think than a round ticket. Say, on a multi-city trip to Italy, if you buy a Delhi-Rome and Milan-Delhi ticket instead of a round ticket like Delhi-Rome-Delhi, it will turn out to be cheaper,” says Oak.
EXPLORE NEW TERRAIN
Thanks to Yash Chopra films, most Indian travellers to Europe end up boarding flights to Switzerland en masse come December. Sesh Seshadri, director, Lonely Planet India, says a good way to zero in on a not-so-obvious destination is to identify a cultural event, activity or experience that a city or country has to offer in a particular year. That is how Seshadri and his team arrived at the recommendations for the Best in Travel 2016 books. “For instance, on top of our best places to visit next year is Botswana that will celebrate its 50th independence year in 2016. Apart from its national parks and natural beauty (a combination of desert and delta), Botswana’s wilderness promises unique experiences such as being helmed in a boat by an African gondolier and cruising past sunbathing hippos.”
To avoid being swamped by vacationers, Nikhil Ganju, India country manager of TripAdvisor, the world’s largest travel portal, checks in into properties outside city limits. Even as he loves to spend New Year’s Eve in Goa, which is abuzz with revellers, Ganju avoids the congested Calangute and Baga beaches to stay further north near the beach. “It gives me a more authentic flavour of the way Goans live. Similarly, when I head to the hills, I skip high-end properties such as Wildflower Hall and prefer private villas in Mashobra, near Shimla that offer more personalised service and hospitality.”
RELY ON TECH
It may be a nice idea to use technology in your quest for better deals during peak season. “Apart from travel agencies, one can depend on destination management companies, or popular e-commerce travel portals,” says travel writer and photographer Amit Sengupta, founder-editor of Travelflat.in. “Most winter package deals begin appearing October onwards,” says Sengupta.
Ankur Bhatia, executive director of Bird Group, advises looking up hotel consolidators to get the best deals on rooms. “The best time to book is either much in advance or at the last minute.”
You could even sign up for a price-alert service to receive notifications in your inbox as soon as prices drop for a destination. “This can help travellers find the best time to get the optimum price,” suggests Gnanamurthy of Skyscanner. “One can find a good deal in the unlikeliest of places. For a vacation to Bali for instance, after looking at budget airlines, I discovered that KLM had a flight to Bali from Singapore priced at just 200 Singapore dollars,” she adds.
Now you can indulge your wanderlust and be rupee-wise at the same time!
IT’S THAT time of the year when you want to indulge in a well-deserved holiday. It is all very well to plan an excursion on your own or with your loved ones in the last week of December or during the New Year break. But you are not alone. The world and their uncle are also headed for that jam-packed hill station, crowded beach resort or not-so-deserted desert safari, during this vacation season.
Chances are, you’ll run into vacationers jostling to get ahead of you at the adventure park or elbowing you out of the drinks queue at the bar. Plus, finding secluded and good accommodation in peak season may cost the earth. Therefore, it might be a good idea to get tips from travel professionals on beating the vacation rush.
Half the battle is won, says Ranjeet Oak, chief business officer-holidays, MakeMyTrip, if you choose the timing of your holiday well. “Europe is cheaper in the winter and one can also get better rates during early spring and late fall. It is most expensive during the summer. This applies to hotel rooms as well as air fares,” explains Oak. “Theme parks are busy over Christmas and New Year’s and again in February, but business is slower in January. So, if you can postpone your holiday by a few days in order to save a bundle of money, where is the harm?” he asks.
Apart from getting the timing of your holiday right, one good way to beat the vacation rush, says Abraham Alapatt, chief innovation officer and head – marketing and service quality, Thomas Cook India, is to take the road less travelled. “Consider flexible and economical accommodation such as village/ local stays, bed and breakfast places, youth hostels and self-drive vacations that give one time to discover the locales at a leisurely pace. It makes for better value for money, too.”
HOW EARLY BIRDS GAIN
Because of heightened demand, December is also the most expensive period to travel compared to other periods throughout the year, warns Kavitha Gnanamurthy, the Singapore-based India head of market development operations with Skyscanner, a search engine that helps people compare flights, hotels and car hiring options.
After analysing data over the last three years, Gnanamurthy says travellers should consider booking on average 18 weeks in advance, to get the lowest price on a flight from India. “Search parameters this year compared to 2014 showed that some destinations see a surge in searches by Indian travellers in December. These included Bangkok (50 per cent year-on-year increase), Dubai (47 per cent) and Singapore (46 per cent),” she says.
While planning multi-city itineraries, try booking ‘Open-Jaw’ tickets, recommends Ranjeet Oak of MakeMyTrip. “This kind of ticket, where the traveller doesn’t fly back from the same city where he first landed, is a better idea I think than a round ticket. Say, on a multi-city trip to Italy, if you buy a Delhi-Rome and Milan-Delhi ticket instead of a round ticket like Delhi-Rome-Delhi, it will turn out to be cheaper,” says Oak.
EXPLORE NEW TERRAIN
Thanks to Yash Chopra films, most Indian travellers to Europe end up boarding flights to Switzerland en masse come December. Sesh Seshadri, director, Lonely Planet India, says a good way to zero in on a not-so-obvious destination is to identify a cultural event, activity or experience that a city or country has to offer in a particular year. That is how Seshadri and his team arrived at the recommendations for the Best in Travel 2016 books. “For instance, on top of our best places to visit next year is Botswana that will celebrate its 50th independence year in 2016. Apart from its national parks and natural beauty (a combination of desert and delta), Botswana’s wilderness promises unique experiences such as being helmed in a boat by an African gondolier and cruising past sunbathing hippos.”
To avoid being swamped by vacationers, Nikhil Ganju, India country manager of TripAdvisor, the world’s largest travel portal, checks in into properties outside city limits. Even as he loves to spend New Year’s Eve in Goa, which is abuzz with revellers, Ganju avoids the congested Calangute and Baga beaches to stay further north near the beach. “It gives me a more authentic flavour of the way Goans live. Similarly, when I head to the hills, I skip high-end properties such as Wildflower Hall and prefer private villas in Mashobra, near Shimla that offer more personalised service and hospitality.”
RELY ON TECH
It may be a nice idea to use technology in your quest for better deals during peak season. “Apart from travel agencies, one can depend on destination management companies, or popular e-commerce travel portals,” says travel writer and photographer Amit Sengupta, founder-editor of Travelflat.in. “Most winter package deals begin appearing October onwards,” says Sengupta.
Ankur Bhatia, executive director of Bird Group, advises looking up hotel consolidators to get the best deals on rooms. “The best time to book is either much in advance or at the last minute.”
You could even sign up for a price-alert service to receive notifications in your inbox as soon as prices drop for a destination. “This can help travellers find the best time to get the optimum price,” suggests Gnanamurthy of Skyscanner. “One can find a good deal in the unlikeliest of places. For a vacation to Bali for instance, after looking at budget airlines, I discovered that KLM had a flight to Bali from Singapore priced at just 200 Singapore dollars,” she adds.
Now you can indulge your wanderlust and be rupee-wise at the same time!
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