EaseMyTrip data reveals air travel bookings to and from Tier 2 cities significantly higher than that of metro cities

Easy Trip Planners Limited (EaseMyTrip), India’s second largest online travel platform, has witnessed an extraordinary growth in domestic air travel and bookings over the past month. The company believes that the industry is on a strong recovery mode as the company witnessed bookings from over 10.85 lakh users between April and June 2021.

As per booking data of EaseMyTrip, the air ticket bookings to and from Tier 2 cities have been significantly higher than that of metro cities since the beginning of the second quarter. The travel industry is going through a revenge travel phase right now which has been a key factor in contributing to the increase in passenger numbers. The recently announced exemption of RT-PCR tests for vaccinated travellers has also improved the overall travel sentiment and will further lead to a rise in passenger traffic.

Leisure destinations such as Goa, Jaipur, Leh and Srinagar have recorded huge growth in passenger volumes flying out of metro cities. The company has also witnessed an increase in bookings for business class tickets, which signifies that the travellers are now spending more for travel as well. 

Apart from air travel, booking numbers are also increasing across non-air segments. As per company data, bookings for four-star and five-star properties have almost doubled as travellers prefer to stay at high-end hotels which are expected to offer a better level of sanitisation in the current period. The average duration of the stay has also gone up from 3.2 days to 4.7 days.

“The travel industry, which has been one of the most impacted sectors since the pandemic, is slowly gathering pace and bouncing its way back to pre-Covid levels. With vaccination numbers going up, and a decline in active cases, there has been a strong recovery in the second quarter, and we expect to sustain our growth on the back of a growing tendency for leisure travel. The huge-pent up demand for travel has resulted in a significant increase in queries and bookings, not just for domestic, but also international destinations that are opening up for Indian citizens,” shared Nishant Pitti, CEO and co-founder, EaseMyTrip.

“We are optimistic that travel bookings will pick up further during the festive season as during the period of July 1-August 15 as we have seen a 400% growth in forward bookings for December, when compared to last year. We are confident that the new travel measures that exempt RT-PCR tests for vaccinated travellers will bring uniformity to the travel guidelines and play a crucial role in fast tracking the revival of the sector,” he added.