Number of Indian tourists travelling abroad increases this summer

The number of Indian tourists heading to foreign lands increased in the summer of 2017 notwithstanding delays in issuance of visas and surge pricing by airlines. Spot fares to London increased by 30 percent this summer when compared with 2016. Processing of visas is also being held up at many popular destinations owing to heavy rush. This has not, however, deterred travellers. Indiver Rastogi, president of corporate travel at Thomas Cook (India), was quoted by newsbytesapp.com as saying that airline bookings saw an increase of more than 40 percent over last year. Vinay Malhotra, COO (Middle East and South Asia) of VFS Global, said that on the whole, the number of visa applications has steadily increased year-on-year, especially to destinations in Europe and the Far East. According to Google, the United States was the most sought after destination while UAE and Thailand took the second and third spots, respectively. ‘Summer Vacation Value’ report of TripAdvisor revealed that Singapore was the most preferred destination. Indonesia’s Bali and Bangkok and Phuket also figured in its popular destinations list. On the other hand, KAYAK, a travel search engine, named New York, Dubai and Bangkok as the top travel destinations. Though demand has increased, airlines have not been able to keep pace with it by increasing supply. John Nair, head of business travel at Cox & Kings, said that he did not see any proportionate capacity increase to Europe and USA from India. If you are looking to go on a holiday abroad from India, get in touch with Y-Axis, a leading immigration consultancy company, to apply for a tourist visa from one of its many offices located all over India.