Thomas Cook India has observed a strong and growing demand from Indian consumers seeking to extend the upcoming Independence Day week into a “micro break” or “smart weekend” holiday. With the holiday-filled week (starting with Bakri Eid on Monday, August 12, Independence Day on Thursday, August 15, and Parsi New Year on Saturday, August 17), many are opting to  convert this opportunity into a short mid-year break of a 4 to 7 day getaway.

Thomas Cook India’s consumer research reveals that the trend of shorter and frequent trips within India and abroad has become the new normal, more so with India’s young working professionals and millennials. Thomas Cook India’s data highlights that “micro breaks” have seen a surge of 35% over the last 2 years, with Indians opting for 2-3 smart weekend holidays in addition to 1-2 long vacations annually.

With Indians being quintessential workaholics, this trend is being led by metro city travellers who are looking to utilise the long weekend to take a quick break from their hectic schedule and travel to short-haul destinations to relax and rejuvenate. Tier 1 metros form the key source markets that are drivers for this trend with a contribution of over 70% of the demand, and include Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bengaluru and Kolkata, along with mini-metros like Pune, Lucknow, Chandigarh and Ahmedabad, amongst others. An interesting observation is the growing demand (approx. 30% contribution) being witnessed from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities such as Jaipur, Mysore, Kozhikode, Tiruchirappalli and Nagpur.

For the Independence Day week-weekend, Thomas Cook India has witnessed a spike of 34% -in travellers for domestic destinations compared to last year. With the perceptible shift/trend to multiple long weekend getaways, Indians are showing increased interest in domestic destinations such as Udaipur, Andaman’s as well as hill stations like Darjeeling, Dalhousie, Ooty, Mahabaleshwar, Mussoorie, Manali, Rishikesh, Shillong.

International destinations with easy visa facilities (e-Visa facilities and Visa-on-arrival) – have also seen a considerable demand. Popular destinations include Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Yas Island, along with Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia’s Bali and beyond, Thailand, Hong Kong – Macao, and Mauritius. Some of the emerging international destinations include Japan, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Turkey and Jordan.

The discounts and offers introduced –by various airlines, such as Spice Jet’s Surprise, Indigo’s Flash Sale amongst others- have led to an interesting boost in demand for last minute travellers seeking to cash in on this long holiday week/ weekend.

Cruise packages are also seeing unusual demand with Singapore and Dubai seeing an encouraging growth of 12%. The duration of cruise packages booked range from 2 to 3 nights on cruise and an additional 2 nights and 3 days on land, with spends of between Rs. 40,000 to Rs. 80,000 per person on a twin share basis.

For those still planning their holidays for this long weekend, some of the attractive domestic packages by Thomas Cook India include the Mesmerizing Uttarakhand tour for INR 29,999, Simply North East with Pelling tour for INR 37,999; Rajasthan – Golden Triangle tour for INR 26,999, and many more.