Anxiety over a third Covid wave mars people's Diwali travel plans

Fears of a Covid third wave have taken a toll on advance bookings of air tickets for Diwali holdays.

Even though bookings are higher than last year, the numbers are lower than the pre-pandemic level showing that people are still wary of stepping out.

“Pre-pandemic around this time, early birds would be booking holidays for next year, summer. Diwali holiday bookings would be full, air fares would be high,’’ a Times of India report quoted Veena Patil of Veena World as saying.

The bookings have been sluggish so far as suggested by airfare data. But travel portals are reporting that queries are slowly picking up for travel during winters.

“In comparison to 2020, there has been an increase in queries by 25-30% during this time of the year for winter travel as well. As for 2019, the year had a much more early stimulus for travel during October-November-December,’’ the report quoted Sabina Chopra, co-founder, yatra.com, as saying.