Rerouting...Travel companies look to focus on 'safer' hotspots amid India-Pakistan tensions

New Delhi: Travel companies said they were rescheduling itineraries, enhancing flexibility, and offering 'safer' alternative destinations, following uncertainty around the India-Pakistan conflict as travellers remain concerned and cautious. While the ministry of external affairs has communicated that both sides would stop all firing and military action on land, air and sea with effect from 5 pm on Saturday, there were reports of violations.

At least 27 airports are shut across India, and several airlines had extended flight cancellations in Western and Northern India till May 15. "We have been getting cancellations on future bookings, and travellers are fearful and uncertain. People have differing views on the ceasefire as there were reports of violations," said Anup Thakur, president of the Kullu Manali Paryatan Vikas Mandal.

It has been a tough call to say no to customer requests and potential business, said Dinesh Khandelwal, chairman, at SGN Software, a SAP & AI firm.

"Our consulting team had scheduled a business trip to Bangladesh this week, but it appears that will now be placed on the back burner. Later this month, we have a family vacation planned for Japan, but at this point it's uncertain whether we'll proceed. These are unprecedented times, and we must remain agile in our decisions," he added.

Pickyourtrail, which decided to pause all new bookings to Turkey and Azerbaijan, is now recommending 'safer' destinations like Greece and Morocco, along with popular South East Asian countries such as Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam due to their accessibility and safety for Indians, said co-founder Hari Ganapathy.

"While we usually see a surge in bookings in May with school holidays and favourable weather conditions in many parts of the world, with the current geopolitical tensions, there seems to be an overall dip in travel sentiments," he added. The expected traffic towards North Indian hill stations is likely to get diverted to the North East, which is seeing a huge uptick in bookings, said Sunil Kumar R, president, Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI).

"Given the ongoing conflict, it looks like tourism will be difficult to revive in Kashmir, and the resultant loss will be borne by every citizen of Kashmir," he said. "In place of Turkey and Azerbaijan, travel agents are promoting destinations such as Australia, given easier entry requirements," he added.

TAAI said on Saturday it was calling upon the travel trade across India to refrain from the promotion and sale of tourism to Turkey and Azerbaijan until their governments demonstrate support for India's fight against terrorism.


Jatinder Paul Singh, CEO, Viacation, said the majority of changes for his company were around rescheduling or shifts to alternate destinations rather than outright cancellations. "We are offering full flexibility to help make these transitions smoothly," he added.

The focus remains on providing timely guidance and support to travellers in impacted cities including Srinagar, Jammu, Amritsar, Leh, Chandigarh, Dharamshala, and Bikaner, said Rikant Pittie, CEO of EaseMyTrip.

Viney Tyagi, director of Uni Crystal Holidays said the damage had already been done. His company caters to inbound tourists from Europe and Latin America.

"Travellers who come to India for hiking and treks in the hills have cancelled bookings for May, June and July. There have been reports of ceasefire violations and travel is a fragile industry," he added. Rajiv Mehra, president of Indian Association of Tour Operators said he was hopeful of normalcy once the shut airports resume operations.