Thomas Cook India, the leading travel services company, and its group company, SOTC Travel, ride the wave of a new trend in festival tourism. The companies launched exclusive tours for Dussehra, Durga Puja, and Diwali, targeting Indian travellers who now prefer to celebrate festivals away from home. This is an emerging trend and indicates how Indians are changing the way they celebrate these special occasions, blending family bonding with travel.
Thomas Cook & SOTC Offer Tailored Tours
Traditionally, all Indian festivals revolved around home-based rituals and family gatherings. More and more families now prefer to celebrate festivals by travelling to new destinations. This is a result of an urge to merge celebrations with relaxation and exploration. Families, including multiple generations, are keen to create memories in a different environment. School holidays during festival times present just the perfect opportunity for such trips. Apart from that, long weekends are a great opportunity for young professionals to take a break and have some time to celebrate.
This changing trend has forced Thomas Cook and SOTC to announce a spate of festive tours. These range from domestic to international tours, fitting every pocket. For Durga Puja, the tours being offered cover trips like Darsaniya Europe, Akorshonio France-Switzerland, and Osaadharon Great Britain-Japan-Vietnam, among others. Other international options are Vietnam and the USA. Domestic travellers have packages on offer to Kashmir, Kerala, and the Andaman Islands.
Festival Tourism Trend
It will take travellers around during Diwali to experience Himachal Pradesh, the North East, Kerala, and Kashmir. The international destinations include Bhutan, Bali, Singapore, and selected European countries. These tours are designed to give the traveller a mixture of cultural experiences with the colours and joy of festivals.
This festive tourism trend reveals a change in the consumption of time and money invested in travel. In fact, Indian tourists have started taking longer trips, which range from six to fifteen days. It is also very noticeable that their travel budgets have increased by 10-15% year on year. Many people now like to club their festival breaks with weekends, thus making it an extended trip.
The most favourite destinations for festive tourism include Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, and the North East in India, while Dubai, the Maldives, Thailand, and Switzerland are in demand abroad. Other upcoming destinations are Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam. Visa-free and easy-visa destinations like Thailand and Sri Lanka are especially the hottest in demand.
To cash in on this trend, Thomas Cook and SOTC have introduced special regional group tours targeting major states such as West Bengal, Karnataka, Gujarat, and Maharashtra. These tours have been specially crafted, keeping in mind the diverse preferences of the region’s travellers.
Cover Image Courtesy: Canva (Representative Image)