Summer vacations take a hit as West Asia tensions rise

Hyderabad: Upcoming summer vacation plans for Indian families have landed in uncertainty with the ongoing West Asia war.

Families, especially those with school-going children who had made bookings to Middle East countries in advance, are now scrambling for alternative destinations.

Looking for safer substitute destinations

The substitute plans are now looking at destinations within India or abroad that do not use the Middle East airspace.

However, a big challenge for the families is the rising cost of air travel due to the additional fuel surcharge. Many airlines have resorted to surcharges due to the rising cost of aviation fuel owing to the ongoing war. Similarly, late hotel bookings at the new destination are also becoming difficult for travel enthusiasts.

Subhash Motwani, founder of Namaste Tourism, told NewsMeter that over 60 per cent of those who had planned vacations traversing the Middle Eastern airspace are now scrambling for safer destinations to circumvent the high-risk routes.

“Besides diverse scenic destinations within the country, people are also looking at countries situated in the south, southwest, east and north of India. These countries do not fall in the war zone and use safer airspace,” said Motwani.

Many quitting plans for travel

While a big lot is overworked in finalising new destinations, about 10 to 15 per cent have decided to let go of the plans this time. Motwani said most among these are couples without children who can plan vacations even during school working days.

“Many flights operating out of the Middle East are offering refunds and hotels are offering credit notes/ greater flexibility instead of full refunds and that seems to be working for this lot,” Motwani explained, adding that some of the guests are even open to exploring holiday destinations within India too.

Supreme Court lawyer Yusuf Iqbal Yusuf, who had made travel arrangements for the Spain versus Argentina Finalissima football match scheduled for March 27 in Qatar, had to cancel his plans as the game was called off due to the war. The game was part of the five-day Qatar Football Festival.

“I was planning a holiday with my family to Qatar, where we would watch the match. However, now we have cancelled our travel and will plan the holiday at a future date,” said Yusuf.

Rashmi Phulmali, founder of travel agency Travelite, said that two of her clients had to cancel their Dubai and Azerbaijan capital Baku travel, respectively, due to the ongoing war.

“A couple who wanted to take their parents to Dubai had booked flight tickets just a day before the war started. They have now cancelled the tickets,” she said.

Luckily, Rashmi had only blocked the hotel rooms and local travel arrangements but had not made payments for the same. Everything was cancelled. The couple now chose an alternative destination, Malaysia.

Similarly, another client of hers, a senior citizen couple, cancelled their forthcoming Baku trip as four drones launched from Iran had targeted the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan on March 5.

The war has caused severe air traffic disruption, with more than 50,000 flights getting cancelled globally since the beginning of the conflict. Global tourist hotspot Dubai has witnessed major flight cancellations, with Iran frequently targeting the city.