, with cancellations of conferences, meets, and leisure trips. Companies are now pinning their hopes on June with banks and credit card firms also pushing travel offers for the month.As per data shared by RateGain with ET, from May 7-May 19, occupancies in markets such as Srinagar, Katra, Agra, Chandigarh, and Delhi fell 77%, 67%, 53%, 33% and 17% year-on-year. The data is based on inbound
hotel bookings.
A major bank cancelled its global conference slated this month in Mumbai, said hoteliers familiar with the matter.
Chander K Baljee, chairman and MD of
Royal Orchid Hotels said Amritsar is currently operating at 30% of normal business, and in Himachal Pradesh (excluding the Dharamshala belt), business is about 40%-50% of the normal levels in May. “Operations have not yet resumed in Kashmir,” he said.
The chief executive of an international chain said on condition of anonymity that bookings for May halved due to ongoing developments compared to the same time last year. “While North India took an immediate hit in terms of cancellations, sentiments were pretty much the same everywhere. Travel stopped, and plans got cancelled. We are seeing bookings moving to mid-June and mid-July now,” he added.
Shahzad Aslam, head of sales at
Leisure Hotels Group said between May 7 and May 19, the chain experienced a clear dip in demand across its properties.“New enquiries declined by around 50%, and actual conversions remained in the single-digit range. The general mood during this period was understandably cautious, leading to a considerable number of cancellations and changes to existing bookings, primarily driven by the ongoing sensitive geopolitical situation,” he said.He said the chain also saw several corporate offsites and group events being deferred, with many now rebooked for June as businesses took a wait-and-watch approach.
“Over the past two weeks, we saw that almost 32 airports were closed, and there were reports of flight cancellations varying between 100-200 in a day that also affected travel sentiments,” said Vineet Mishra, VP, operations for India and South Asia at Accor. “We saw overseas business travellers reducing. People were of the opinion that, if possible, they should postpone. That’s something that even we saw. We saw cancellations. Weddings continued but some MICE events got postponed. A lot of events got pushed for the coming weeks,” he added.
