Hotel tariffs soar in Indian hill stations, prompting rush bookings for cooler destinations. Popular places like Ooty, Manali, and Kashmir see significant demand spikes, with travellers prioritizing climate change in vacation planning.
From a historical tour in Kurukshetra to clay therapy in a sleepy village in Rajasthan, explore these five destinations to escape the metropolitan hubbub.
Traditionally, Indians stay at home for the festivities; however, residents seem to be travelling to avoid deteriorating air quality. There has been a sharp increase in bookings for the Diwali weekend from the Delhi NCR region, said Amit Damani, co-founder of villa and bungalow rental company StayVista.
"We are pretty much sold out across our major properties. For example, in Nainital, both our properties are sold out. Bhimtal is sold out. Corbett is almost sold out and our Aloha on the Ganges property in Rishikesh is also sold out," said Shahzad Aslam, head of sales at Leisure Hotels Group. "Our property in Haridwar is sold out. We are doing 100% occupancies during September 8-10. In Varanasi, we are currently at 70% occupancy, but hopefully by tomorrow, we will be touching between 90% and 100% occupancy. Prices have gone up by about 20-25% on an average for this weekend."
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