Some travel service providers have registered a 25-30% jump in bookings for Eastern Europe this year and destinations like Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Romania are getting popular on the radar of discerning Indian travellers.Against that travel to mainland Europe grew between 10% to 15%. MakeMytrip saw an over 100% growth in bookings for some of the countries in Eastern Europe.Hungary, for instance, registered an over 150% growth closely followed by Serbia, Russia and Estonia on the platform.“On an average, we have seen over 60% growth in the number of bookings for Eastern Europe on our platform compared to last year. While Prague, Vienna and Budapest are top favourite cities to visit in the region, the Croatian coastline is catching the imagination of a lot of travellers and we foresee a lot of growth in outbound travel for this region,” said a spokesperson from MakeMyTrip.“The Balkan states of Croatia, Slovenia and Serbia Montenegro constitute another belt that is emerging besides Hungary Poland and Austria. A lot of Bollywood films have been shot in locations like Serbia. WOW air is starting direct operations from India this year so we hope the Iceland numbers will also go up,” said Romil Pant, senior VP, leisure travel, Thomas Cook.At Thomas Cook, the growth to the region has been 25-30% for Eastern Europe this year compared to Mainland Europe, which has been in the range of 10-15%.“Certain destinations there are also getting competitive. Serbia is visa free and one can do a 5-7 days Serbia trip under Rs 1 lakh,” he added.Data from the Czech Republic Authority showed the country welcomed 85,680 Indians in 2017 and expects more than one lakh Indian visitors by 2019-20. VFS Global said the Czech Republic is emerging as a popular destination for Indian travellers with a year-on-year growth of 89% in visa applications in 2017. As per Schengen Visa Info, a database of information related to the Schengen visa, destinations like Hungary, Poland and Czech Republic issued a total of 14,750, 7803, and 20779 uniform visas respectively to Indian travellers in 2017, up from 10,262, 7183 and 12085, respectively, in 2016.“These are travellers who have visited Western and Southern Europe and want to now experience the beauty of Eastern European destinations that are rich in culture, architecture and cuisine. We have seen demand growing by 10-15%. With improved air connectivity, this region will see an increase in traffic in the coming years,” said Karan Anand, head of relationships at Cox & Kings. MakeMyTrip has a group package called ‘Jewels of Eastern Europe’ which contributes a significant portion to their Eastern Europe sales and covers Bratislava, Budapest, Prague and Vienna.“We offer multiple itineraries both for groups as well as individual travel since we have seen a spurt in demand for both kinds,” the spokesperson said.
from Economic Times https://ift.tt/2Pvhl5z
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