Shoe-string budgets no longer a constraint to foreign tours

Mon, May 12 12:35 AM

Have the long summer holiday looming ahead and don't know where to go? Is budget a constraint when it comes to holidaying on foreign shores? If these are some of the questions bothering you as you watch friends and relatives heading off to exotic locations, then help is at hand, courtesy Airlines and travel companies who have woken up to the budget traveller. Take the example of SriLankan Airlines' recent offer.

For a three-day tour to Sri Lanka, including a two-nights stay in a star hotel, the airline is charging Rs 15,000 for a person travelling from Mumbai. The cost comes down to Rs 10,499 for someone travelling from Trivandrum.

Amith Sumanapala, General Manager, SriLankan Holidays said: "The package also covers hotel transfers and fuel taxes." This, according to travel industry executives, could be the cheapest package to any foreign destination.

Mumbai-based Raj Travels is offering a summer package of Rs 33,333 per person to Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. The travel company's managing director Lalit Seth says that this is one of the cheapest, as it does not have any hidden charges.

"One has to be very careful while being lured by dirt-cheap offers. There could be lot of hidden charges," he says, something that the travel industry experts also agree with.

They warn that customers must look out for hidden charges like airport taxes before taking up budget deals. Seth claims that his seven-day tour packages to America and Europe are drawing a lot of travellers.

"We have got a seven days packages to America and Europe priced at a little more than one lakh per person. And we are sending tourists almost every day.

A Mumbai-New York-Mumbai air ticket now costs Rs 65,000 and thus the packages are well received by the travelling public,' Seth added. Though several cheap accommodation packages are available at hotels in East Asian countries, rising airfares have been a major concern.

For example travel company Cox and amp; Kings offers several cheap options. It involves a Rs 7,560 package per person package for five days and four nights stay in Malaysia and Rs 5,331 per person package for five days four nights in Thailand.

But you have to shell out airfare expenses of around Rs 25,000 to Rs 30,000.

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