PANAJI
With travellers to Goa expected to soar later this week with just a day (Friday) separating the Independence day holiday from the Saturday-Sunday weekend, reports suggest the hospitality industry is bracing up to cash-in on the rush, jacking up room rates by a cool 20-30 per cent.
Stories abound online that hotel rates here have zoomed by up to 30 per cent, citing real booking data from travel sites.
Comparatively, analysis of bookings on the same sites show that the spike in hotel room rates in other destinations for the upcoming I-Day and Raksha Bhandan weekend is a much lower 15 per cent.
Independence Day is on Thursday and Raksha-Bandhan on Monday next. Travellers are expected to take the day off on Friday to make it a long five-day 'staycation' in Goa, said a hospitality professional working at a starred property in North Goa.
"It's but natural that prices will shoot up temporarily. It's a demand-supply argument," the hotel executive who did not want to be identified said.
As per data mined from popular online booking sites like Make My Trip, Yatra.com and Sky Scanner, an average hotel here costs upto Rs 3,000 per night. On Independence Day weekend however, rooms are being quoted at Rs 3,500-4,000.
The same I-Day weekend room tariff spike in Bengaluru and Mumbai, however, is just about Rs 400 as compared to the upwards of Rs 1,000 spike in Goa.
ONLINE SEARCHES FOR HOMESTAYS BOOM: Homestay giant Airbnb, meanwhile has reported a whopping increase in searches for its stays compared to the same period last year -- an over 300% rise. Goa tops the list in these searches among domestic destinations, it said.
According to Amanpreet Bajaj, Airbnb's boss for India and some other Southeast Asian countries, it indicates a trend of Indian travellers exploring domestic destinations during short breaks and long weekends due to easier access.
Goa competitive
Internationally, Goa finds a place in the list of most affordable destinations prepared by online hotel booking giant Agoda which used June 15 to July 7 real booking data to prepare it.
In Agoda's list, Goa sits in the company of destinations like Hat Yai in Thailand at the top for offering the most competitive room rates.
Other destinations in this Agoda list with a Rs 5,000 average room tariff are Yogyakarta in Indonesia, Kuching in Malaysia, Siargao Island in the Philippines, Dalat in Vietnam, Narita in Japan, Taichung in Taiwan and Busan in South Korea.
