Uttarayan Trips Called Off Due To Rising Covid – Ahmedabad Mirror

Travel agents report 70% cancellations for packages booked for the 3-day Uttarayan weekend; most had chosen 2 nights/3 days tours

Many Amdavadis who had booked the long Uttarayan weekend at their favourite destinations have bailed out due to rising Covid cases.

As per industry sources, 60 to 70 percent of the travellers from Ahmedabad have cancelled bookings. Travel agents said most bookings for Shimla, Rishikesh, Mussoorie and Dehradun besides Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Kumbhalgarh, Jawai, Mount Abu and Udaipur, have been cancelled.

Stuti Amrutiya, an interior designer, cancelled their three-day vacation to Jawai. “We had booked the dates in November. However, the spike in Covid cases in the last week or two changed our minds. We had all contracted Covid during the second wave. We don’t want to take any chances now. We will travel only when the situation improves.”

Director of Vanguard Holidays Shailesh Agrawal said, “About 70% of our clients have cancelled bookings. Most of them had chosen a two nights/three days package. On time cancellations mean 100% hotel booking refund but not for flight tickets.” Satish Joshi, a businessman, had to bear a loss of around Rs 1 lakh on flight tickets booked for a trip to Kolkata and Kamakhya Temple. He said, “This is the second time we had to cancel our trip. My son had specially flown down from the UK for a family trip. Since the tickets were non-refundable, I lost all of Rs 1 lakh. But life matters over money.”

Director of Martand Tours and Travels Nishith Notani said, “Cancellations started trickling in from the first week of January. Maximum booking cancellations are by the people that were traveling via flight or train followed by hired cars.”

Vijay Desai, a senior advocate in the High Court, has also cancelled his bookings for Mount Abu during Uttarayan. Desai said, “I had plans to travel to Mt Abu with my wife and daughter. It’s better to remain home rather than risking our lives.”