Tour operators woo customers with discounts, offers

Online travel agent (OTA) Yatra, for instance, company is offering a range of offers across flights (domestic 10% and international 5%), hotels (up to 55% off up to ₹5,000 with free room and meal upgrades) and bus services (flat 6% off). For holiday packages the discounts can be as high as upto 60%.

Sabina Chopra, co-founder and COO, Corporate Travel & Head Industry Relations, Yatra.com said that tour operators and OTAs are offering a wide range of offers and attractive discounts to accelerate domestic tourism demand as well as improve consumer confidence.

“With increasing desire to travel and limited reopening of international borders, the country presents a vast opportunity for domestic travel. There are numerous locations and experiences waiting to be explored and by offering special discounts we are engaging with and encouraging consumers to go out and travel and explore the various domestic destinations,” she added.

Booking.com is launching a new Flash Deal promotion which is a 36-hour bi-weekly promotion to help travellers save at least 30% from participating properties across India and around the world. The first promotion will go live in India from 1:30 am on Friday (13 August, 2021) to 1:30 pm on Saturday (15 August, 2021).

“With a booking window valid for stays with a checkout date until 13 August 2022, travellers can feel secure knowing that Booking.com offers important features like free cancellation (policies vary by property) and information on cleanliness standards, so they can travel stress free and safely as and when travel restrictions continue to lift across India and globally,” the company said.

The platform is also offering Getaway Deals for stays, Last Minute and Early Booker Deals and special discounted rates on Booking.com’s app.

MakeMyTrip has also announced a sale across flights, hotels, cabs, holidays etc. Customers can win deals everyday till 16 August.

Meanwhile, Thomas Cook India, and its group company, SOTC Travel, have launched the India Holiday Festival offering special discounts from 28 July to 6 August, 2021, with bookings open across the companies’ omni-channel network of retail outlets, websites, virtual holiday stores and apps.

Offers are available for destinations such as Goa, Andamans, Himachal, Kashmir, Ladakh for family holidays (50%), Honeymoon specials (upto 20% off) for destinations such as Kashmir, Himachal, Rajasthan, Kerala and North East as well as Adventure packages for biking, camping & wildlife (up to 10% off) across destinations like Manali-Leh-Srinagar, Sitlakhet, Uttarakhand and Yercaud, Tamil Nadu among others.

While luxury vacations are also on offer (up to 20% off) in places such as Kanha and Bandhavgarh Wildlife Tour.

It has also announced a two pronged scheme – BOGO (buy one get one free) on international destinations such as Maldives, Egypt and Russia and book any domestic holiday and get a staycation free in a bid to motivate more people to travel.

Rajeev Kale, president and country head – holidays, MICE, Visa, Thomas Cook (India) noted that Indians are quintessentially deal-seekers, and to accelerate demand and drive conversions.

“… we have already seen a significant 500% surge in July vs. June. For our domestic tours, we have included unique/non- standard elements that are complimentary, aimed at giving a boost to bookings – like zip-lining in Ladakh, a special photo shoot, lunch at an apple orchard in Manali, a sea cart ride in the Andamans, etc,” he added.

Thomas Cook has also partnered with hotel chains like Taj and Accor with a two pronged strategy of health and safety focus to build traveller confidence and attractive offers to catalyse demand.

“The upcoming festive season being the second largest vacation season for Indians, our intent is to translate the positive sentiment into transactions – and in addition to our offers, we have also included value add-ons like a special festive menu and delicacies that are served on-tour,” Kale added.

“While travel has resumed for a lot of people, the rewarding deals, never-before-seen value adds and enticing offers that we have rolled out nudges not just the fence-sitters but pro-actively helps persuade those who are often searching but are yet to book their travel,” said Sunil Suresh, Chief Marketing Officer, MakeMyTrip and Goibibo.