Ahmedabad: This summer, vacation plans are not looking as they usually do every year, when trips are planned and booked months in advance. Many families are redrawing their dream vacations due to the West Asia crisis that has disrupted air travel, made airfares exhorbitant and led to uncertainty.Dipak Desai, a professional from Surat, booked a family trip to Dubai some four months ago for travel in late March. He has now recharted his journey. “Our hotel, sightseeing and internal transfers were booked as per our itinerary. We were in a wait-and-watch mode until March 10, but cancelled as tensions showed no signs of easing,” he said. The Desai family will now be heading for the northeast. The demand for international travel has gone down by around 40% this summer compared to last year, according to estimates by travel agents and travel operators’ associations. “As the Gulf region is a major aviation hub, the uncertainty surrounding the conflict has made travellers, particularly those planning to fly with Emirates, Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways, cautious. Those headed to Dubai have certainly cancelled plans, and those heading to other countries are re-evaluating their options. While some are cancelling, others are choosing domestic destinations,” said Ankit Bajaj, owner of a travel company in Ahmedabad.Airfares define most holiday packages. “In many international tours, they account for 30-35% of the total cost. When flight fares rise sharply, travellers begin reconsidering the destinations they had planned to visit. A standard Europe tour that cost around Rs 1.2 lakh per person in 2025 is now around Rs 1.55 lakh,” he added. Azerbaijan, Southeast Asia and Europe were emerging as top destinations when enquiries began a month ago. With the war on, plans have largely been shelved. “Most current international bookings are from passengers who have unavoidable travel plans. Leisure travellers are largely holding back. Many travellers are specifically asking for routes that avoid Middle East hubs, and are opting to fly via Europe or Africa instead. For the summer season, enquiries for international holidays have slowed considerably as people adopt a wait-and-watch approach. Compared with the same period last year, international travel bookings have dropped by around 40%,” said Virendra Shah, former chairman of the Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI), Gujarat.
