HYDERABAD: To swim in the blue and greenish waters at the various islands in Thailand is a mid-summer dream for many. For that matter, so is a visit to Singapore, Malaysia and Dubai. The reasons for the same are many but the major factors are world class hospitality and of course, the affordable costs. This summer, though, for Hyderabadis bitten by the travel bug, the costs have gone up and most are, it appears, preferring to holiday in different tourist hot spots in the country itself.“Last summer, the airfares were much lesser compared to this year. South East Asia offers the best family holiday destinations and is very economical compared to the US or Europe. This summer, however, due to the hike in air fares, people are deterred from flying even to Thailand and other places,” says Shradha, who is in-charge of the international packages at Akbar Travels of India Pvt Ltd.According to her colleague, Rahima, a trip of 4 nights and 5 days to Thailand now costs around Rs 50,000. “We have had only 15-20 customers who travelled to the South East Asian countries this summer. This is quite a low figure,” she points out.Bhanu Krishna at the Airbourne Tours and Travels too echoes the same views. “As air fuel charges are increasing day by day, it affects international tourism packages. Though business travellers do not mind the rising airfare, it is the tourists who are hit,” he explains. According to him, when the return fare to European countries and Australia increased by around Rs 15,000, the airfare to the US and Canada went up by almost Rs 30,000 per head. For example, a round trip to San Francisco was around Rs 55,000 in 2011 but is now v80,000. In the same way, a round trip to London used to cost `37,000 in 2011 while it is over Rs 50,000 now.For destinations in South East Asia too, the fares increased by 75% over the last one year. A round trip to any of those countries used to cost around Rs 18,000 last year but now it has risen to Rs 24,000. “The return fare to Bangkok last year used to be around Rs 16,000 but currently, it is around Rs 20,000,” explains Bhanu. Even the air charges to Dubai, one of the most preferred international shopping destinations, increased by around 75%. However, from other cities like Mumbai, the return fare is just Rs 13,000!
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