Goa still top tourist destination

The beach paradise of Goa is the top tourist destination for Summer of 2008, despite the recent Scarlet Keeling controversy. Besides the regularly visited locales such as Ooty, Mahabaleshwar, Shimla and Manali the list of top 10 domestic tourist destinations this summer include Auli and Matheran. Munnar (in Kerala) is the destination that the high-end holiday makers are eyeing.

On the other hand, tourists headed to foreign shores are exploring Singapore, Malaysia, South Africa, Mediterranean cruises and East Europe, according to travel search company, Holiday IQ’s ‘Holiday Intelligence Forecast’.

Though there is still time for families to head to their holiday destination, the verdict is out. Hill Stations, which appeal to families and not just backpackers, are the flavour of the season, Goa being the only exception.

“Munnar is registering fastest growth among the top 10 summer destinations. Though for North Indians a trip to the city can be more or equally as expensive when compared to a foreign destination like Bangkok. But that’s not deterring holiday makers,” says Hari Nair, CEO and founder, Holiday IQ. Another interesting trend is that that the demand among domestic tourists is highest for moderately priced hotel rooms. While 30% searches are for premium range packages, 40% are for mid-priced and 30% for budget holidays. The yardstick which categorises these packages is the room rate per night. A premium holiday would mean spending more than Rs 6,000 for a room per night, while mid-priced means shelling out Rs 2,500 to Rs 6,000. Anything below Rs 2,500 for a room falls in the budget category.

The forecast shows that domestic travellers are planning their trip to Goa too as they can avail of some cheap hotel deals there, unlike the New Year time.

Those flying to foreign locales now prefer travelling alone rather than opting for plain-vanilla package tours for groups. “A fall out of this trend is that new and unexplored destinations are also being considered by travellers. Most packages offer regular destinations.
source:http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Services/Goa_still_top_tourist_destination/articleshow/2912645.cms