Xmas, New Year weekends spawn travel boom

As Christmas and New Year's Day fall on a weekend, it is an extended holiday for most people. This comes as an added advantage for travels agents and hotels not only in Maharashtra but also outside the state.
u00a0
Kedar Kirane, Director, Aradhana Tours said, "The response has been huge. We are making daily bookings for Kerala and Rajasthan starting from December 26. There are huge numbers traveling alone who make spontaneous trips to the nearby places."

Nitin Shashtri, owner, Offbeat Destinations, a travel agency said, "We have packed bookings to some of the popular properties in Panshet, Mulshi till January 10. But we have also done a large number of bookings to Konkan and Goa." He further added that every day they attend to more than 30 phone calls asking for queries about various holiday destinations.

An official spokesperson from MakeMyTrip, a popular online travel agency adds that their chartered flights leaving for Maldives and Goa on December 28 are completely booked. "The packages we were offering were from December 28 to January 2 and most of our bookings are by families."

Even city hotels have joined the fray by coming up with interesting packages. Niraj Ojha, General Manager, St Laurence hotel who are offering New Year Package for double occupancy at Rs 8,999 for 2 nights said, "Most of the crowd belongs to Mumbai." Megha Ajgaonkar, director of Sales, Westin hotels said, "We haven't received many enquires from the city. People do not want to stay back in the hotel after the New Year's Eve celebrations."u00a0