Rising vaccination rates in India and lifting of lockdown restrictions across states have fueled leisure travel along with the previously on-going essential travel, said Abhibus, a leading online bus travel aggregator.
The company witnessed 60% surge in demand with more than 4,50,000 bus bookings in the 5 weeks since June.
Abhibus has reported that of all the travel since June, 55% of their travelers have been completely vaccinated and an additional 32% have received the first dose of vaccination.
Leisure travel in India has been at a standstill since the last few months as India battled the worst of Covid-19.
Essential travel required special permits due to the strict lockdown measures enforced by many states.
The travel and tourism sector has taken a big hit in the past year with local travel restrictions adding to their losses along with the international travel bans.
The rise in local travel demands especially for leisure travel, provides a ray of hope to the travel sector.
While the demand for bus travel is nowhere near the pre-pandemic levels, vaccination efforts may provide the required impetus for people to safely travel across the country.
Commenting on the recent trends, Rohit Sharma, COO at AbhiBus, said, “We are witnessing a welcome surge in leisure travel across the country and that is a great sign for the industry. We hope that with higher vaccination rates, people feel safer to travel and revisit their travel plans which have been on hold for the past year.”
Along with the rise in leisure travel, Abhibus has also witnessed a rise in vaccine related travel. As part of its efforts to revive the travel sector faster and promote domestic travel, the company has integrated a facility to book covid vaccination slots on its platform.
Abhibus allows users to book covid vaccination slots at a nearby location and once vaccinated, download their vaccination certificate from the Abhibus website.
Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, Visakhapatnam, Jaipur and Chennai among others, have been the most preferred travel destinations since June, according to Abhibus.
Currently, business and professional travel still forms the bulk of this uptick in demand with a slight increase in non-professional and leisure travel.
