The inclement weather prevailing in Western countries has become a boon for the travel

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destinations in West Asia and Far East. With flights to Europe and US too being cancelled, Indian travellers are cancelling their bookings and are instead winging their way to destinations such as Dubai, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore.

“Travellers flying to Europe and other destinations in the West have cancelled their bookings due to severe weather conditions prevailing, as they do not want to get stuck there. Instead they are opting to go to countries in the Far East such as Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia, where bookings can be done immediately and the time to get visa is also relatively short,” said Rajesh Rateria, chairman – western region at Travel Agents Association of India.

The period between months of October and March is the peak season for inbound and outbound travel to and from India. Last month alone, over 300 incoming and outgoing flights to India were affected due to severe weather conditions.

Rateria explains that a vacations trip to destinations in the Gulf region and Far East cost between half to 60 per cent of that incurred is flying to Indians favorite destinations such as London and Switzerland for instance. According to him, a family of four spends Rs four lakh for a 10 days trip to Europe. “In contrast, the family will have to shell out almost half if they are going to Dubai, Singapore, Bangkok, Phuket or Kuala Lumpur due to lower air fare and accommodation charges and a weaker currency,” he added.

PR Srinivas, industry lead – tourism, hospitality and leisure at Deloitte India said, “Outbound travel has been affected due to weather conditions in the West. So vacationers decided to go to places such as Maldives, Sri Lanka and South Africa, where there was not much impact of the weather conditions and which share have similar weather conditions to India.”

Many vacationers opted to forego their hotel-booking amount for their bookings in Europe than to get stranded in severe weather conditions, which would limit their ability to enjoy the natural beauty of destinations planned to be visited. “Hardly 10 per cent of those who foregoed their bookings might have stayed back and travelled within the country. Most decided to travel to Far East,” said Srinivas.

High air fares and room rentals in India relative to that offered by some South East Asian nations is one of the reason, why people do not change their plans to travel to international destinations. In December 2010 domestic air fares from Mumbai to Delhi and Mumbai to Goa ranged as high as Rs 30,000 to Rs 45,000 one way, as against around Rs 5,000 to Rs 12,000 per ticket, during the non-peak season.

In case of inbound traffic, Srinivas said traditionally occupancies in hotels go up and similar thing happened this year as well. “Hotel bookings have increased by 15 to 20 per cent as compared to the same period last year,” seconded Rateria.

Industry experts reckon that on weekdays leading hotels posted occupancies as high as 100 per cent during December 2010. “The trend is expected continue till the end of this month, as US and European travellers prefer Indian weather than their own,” said an industry watcher who requested anonymity.

According to the Ministry of tourism and culture, Government of India, foreign tourist arrivals during January-November 2010 grew by 10.4 per cent to 4.93 million.