Airways, accommodations, and tour planners mentioned bookings have been markedly larger, upending the maxim that folks sometimes defer journey by this month that coincides with board exams.
SD Nandakumar, president and nation head for holidays and company excursions at SOTC Travel, mentioned this yr, the corporate noticed an ‘exponential’ progress of 100% versus February final yr and this has been primarily led by Mahakumbh.
“Along with Mahakumbh, we’ve got additionally seen important progress for Ayodhya, given its proximity to Prayagraj. The demand for Mahakumbh has been exceptionally excessive and this consists of each our metro and regional supply markets, led by Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, Pune, and Delhi,” mentioned Nandakumar.
“With direct air routes and pricing dealing with comprehensible demand-supply constraints, we created viable hub and spoke non-obligatory routes like Lucknow, Agra, Delhi, Jaipur, Patna and Ayodhya,” he added.
The world’s largest religious gathering, the Mahakumbh concluded on February 26. Rajeev Kale, president and nation head of holidays, MICE, and visa at Thomas Cook dinner (India) Restricted, mentioned regardless of advance planning and bulk-purchased stock, the corporate was inspired with an nearly sold-out place far sooner than anticipated for the Mahakumbh packages.”In a month like February, airways noticed unprecedented load elements owing to Mahakumbh,” mentioned Anil Parashar, government director at ITQ Applied sciences. “Most of the travellers weren’t taking direct flights to prayagraj, and have been flying by connecting routes to succeed in there leading to packed capability for lots of carriers. Travellers additionally thought of going to different spiritual locations round Mahakumbh,” he added.
February 2025 was a powerful month for Radisson Hotel Group in India, pushed by strong demand throughout home journey segments, mentioned Nikhil Sharma, MD, and space senior VP, South Asia at Radisson Resort Group.
“We achieved our highest efficiency metrics up to now, with common every day price rising by 14% and income per obtainable room growing by 8% in comparison with February final yr,” mentioned Sharma.
“All main metro cities contributed considerably to this progress, reflecting the energy of each enterprise and leisure journey demand. Pilgrimage tourism additionally performed a pivotal function with the Kumbh Mela driving distinctive efficiency in key markets, he added.
He mentioned Varanasi, for example, noticed a surge in revenues, with income per obtainable room rising 30% larger in comparison with February final yr, as town welcomed a big inflow of pilgrims and vacationers.
Kale mentioned given the demand pipeline, the corporate pivoted to contract important further volumes and this was throughout air, tent lodging and on-ground land transportation, meals and native experiences.
He mentioned given the ‘unabated’ surge in demand, clients have been open to non-obligatory routes, with flights that bought them into alternate arrival factors like Varanasi , Lucknow, Kanpur, Jabalpur airports after which a drive all the way down to Prayagraj.
Rajesh Magow, co-founder and group CEO of MakeMyTrip mentioned the demand for Mahakumbh demonstrates continued curiosity in pilgrimage journey.
“We witnessed big curiosity in transport in addition to lodging choices for Maha Kumbh. Moreover, we launched eight specifically curated packages for the occasion,” he mentioned.
“We’re constantly strengthening our provide and driving product-side innovation to make sure that we meet the evolving wants of pilgrimage travellers. Past leisure, within the company journey section too we proceed to develop quicker than the business with our digital-first choices,” he added.