Airfares to destinations in Asian countries have soared helped by recent decision to waive mandatory hotel quarantine for vaccinated travellers and rush of residents to celebrate Eid Al Adha in their home countries. Prices of air tickets have doubled in a period of just one week.
There is a high demand from Asian expatriates for economy-class air tickets for next week, but tickets are not available for cities like Manila, Mumbai and Islamabad.
“The situation has changed drastically for air travel in the past one week. Until last Thursday, tickets to Asian cities were easily available and at reasonable rates,” a senior official of a travel agency told The Peninsula. “Now, air ticket prices for next one week for certain Asian cities have almost doubled. Flights are fully booked for next one week for some airlines for cities like Manila, Mumbai and Islamabad,” he added.
According to the travel agents, removal of hotel quarantine for vaccinated travellers and upcoming Eid Al Adha vacation are the two major factors behind soaring airfares.
Earlier, it was mandatory for travellers coming from six countries including India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the Philippines to undergo 10 days hotel quarantine. The hotel quarantine was acting as a big dampener for the revival of air travel.
But the announcement of new travel policy has suddenly changed the equations for air travel industry. As per the new travel policy, which came into effect from July 12, vaccinated people from all countries will be exempted from quarantine. The Ministry of Interior had announced on Thursday it would resume issuing tourist and family entry visas from Monday.
“It has been almost two years since expatriates have not gone to their home countries due to COVID-19 crisis. Now, most of the travelers are vaccinated and cases of infections have also come down significantly. Summer vacations have started and now hotel quarantine for vaccinated travellers is also not required."
“All these factors have encouraged residents to make travel plans,” Marketing Manager of a tour and travel company told The Peninsula.
Experts say that prices of air tickets are expected to remain high in coming days because of high demand.
“I do not see much scope of prices of tickets to fall much over the next one month. Summer vacations have started, schools are closed for vacation which will keep the demand for air tickets high for over a month,” he added.
