Saw a 3 times surge in the bookings for Hajj and Umrah in the month of May 2022, compared to pre-COVID times
| SanKash, India’s only travel fintech brand that facilitates online and offline travel operators to provide innovative payment plans to their customers, today announced that it has witnessed 72% bookings for Char Dham Yatra in the Pilgrimage travel domain. A majority of these bookings are being done by people between the age group of 25 and 45, as a gift to their parents, in-laws, family members or for themselves.
SanKash saw a 3 times surge in the bookings for Hajj and Umrah in the month of May 2022. Pilgrimage travel usually picks up during the summer holidays, with states such as Delhi, Punjab, Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Karnataka making the maximum number of bookings. Commenting on the travel trends, Akash Dahiya, Co-founder, SanKash, said, “Indians today are traveling for varied reasons, the reason today isn’t just leisure. There is a rise in Impact and Purpose Driven Bookings; 94% of Indians are looking forward to traveling with their family in 2022; 93% of Indians are planning to spend more or the same on travel in 2022 compared to a typical pre-pandemic year. They are planning on trips to dream destinations like Maldives, Europe, Dubai, Turkey etc.” Over 72% of the loans availed from SanKash are for International travel, mostly opted for by customers between the age bracket of 33 and 45 years, while there is a 50-50% division between salaried and self-employed choosing vacation loans. SanKash has witnessed a higher number of women opting for travel loans this season (up by 20%) as compared to the period before COVID. All womens’ groups traveling abroad have seen a surge, with Thailand topping the charts. Other destinations are Singapore, Dubai and Turkey for families; France, Maldives, Germany, London and Toronto for solo travellers, Honeymooners or group travellers. Most of these bookings are initiated from Maharashtra, Delhi, Karnataka and Gujarat by people between the age group of 35 and 50 years. “After remaining indoors for almost two years during full and partial lockdowns imposed to counter the COVID-19 pandemic, people are now enthusiastic to travel again. With the normalcy in the pandemic situation, the financial prospects of Indians have got better, but the dent in their savings has resulted in a shortage of funds for planning trips. So, people are looking for ways to fund their travel without missing the opportunities,” added Abhilasha Negi, Co-founder, SanKash. It is also seen that the percentage of solo travellers is higher by 43% during the monsoons as compared to summer vacations, where bookings are mostly done by families. The majority of the monsoon bookings are done for cultural, environmental and experiential purposes, as opposed to summer vacations, which are more of leisure travel. In India, Monsoon travellers prefer Udaipur in Rajasthan, Valley of flowers in Uttarakhand, Coorg in Karnataka, Ladakh in Jammu & Kashmir, Shillong in Meghalaya and Kutch in Gujarat. In terms of international destinations, Singapore, Dubai, Thailand, Bali, Maldives, Turkey and Seychelles reigns supreme. |
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