Industry executives told Business Standard that with the peak season around the corner, and increased cancellation from outbound tourists, travel firms and hotel companies saw the domestic traffic being diverted to prime Indian locales such as in Goa, Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Sikkim and Orissa.
Ashwini Kakkar, CEO and managing director, Thomas Cook (India), said, "The extent of success would, however, depend on what the state tourism boards have to offer. Shimla, Nainital and Darjeeling are expected to pull major crowds this summer, while Goa has been the favourite for some time now."
Ashish Singh, managing director of Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation, said, "We have already stepped up our ad spends, as competition between the state tourism boards hots up to pull in interested holiday crowds."
Travel agents in Mumbai said enquiries for domestic tour packages had already started flowing in, but it would take another fortnight for them to get translated into actual bookings.
A senior executive from the Taj group of hotels said, "We are expecting domestic tourism to get a leg-up on the face of the ongoing war and SARS. But at this stage it is too early to predict any kind of tangible gain."
Taj has seen a dip in occupancy rates at its properties in London and South Asia, while its property in Sri Lanka has done good business.
However, according to Kakkar, the current domestic airfares are double of what they should actually be. Domestic carriers hiked fares by 15 per cent recently.
A senior official in Indian Airlines said the fares were increased across the board in anticipation of the fact that inbound tourism was expected to see a substantial rise this year.
"The new summer schedule is well designed to meet the expected surge in inbound tourism this year," he said.
