Maha Kumbh sends airfares spiralling up; flights from Bengaluru see 89% price hike

Bengaluru: There are 45 crore tourists headed to the ongoing Maha Kumbh Mela. It is after all a once-in-12-years event tagged as the world’s largest religious gathering. Then again, the turnout is not surprising given the newfound uptick in religious tourism India is seeing.

Needless to say, airfares to Prayagraj (formerly Allahabad), where the mela is held, are surging. According to Anuj Rathi, Chief Business and Growth Officer, Cleartrip, they have gone up three time from the levels seen in the same period last year.

Airfares from Bengaluru, for example, to Prayagraj have risen 89 per cent, with one-way fare at Rs 11,158, as per data shared by Ixigo. 

But this is nowhere near the 498 per cent surge seen in fare from Bhopal to Prayagraj, which is going at a one-way fare of Rs 17,796.

Aloke Bajpai, Group CEO, Ixigo, said, “Fares are also trending higher for travel before key snan (bath) dates. For example, fares for January 27 from key metros like Mumbai are going as high as Rs 27,000 one-way for non-stop flights.”

Besides Bhopal, that has broken all records, the spike in airfares is highest from Jaipur, Bengaluru, Nagpur, Kochi and Mumbai, as logged by Cleartrip.

To keep up with the demand, airlines have raised the frequency of their flights to the pilgrim town as well. In fact, on Tuesday, Air India announced that it will be flying daily to Prayaraj from Delhi for little over a month, covering the event. 

Ixigo data also shows that flight bookings to Prayagraj have gone up 162 per cent, over the same period last year.

The event has not propelled only air travel but also train bookings, which have gone up 187 per cent according to Confirm Tkt data.

Bus bookings are also seeing the surge. Rohit Sharma, Chief Operating Officer, Abhibus, said, “On day one, bookings for Prayagraj saw a 220 per cent increase compared to the city’s overall bus bookings during the festive season in October last year.”

Remarkably, the pilgrims are more young than old. Travellers aged between 20 and 25 account for 24 per cent of those headed to Prayagraj, surpassing those aged 46 and above (21 per cent).

Meanwhile, Redbus is anticipating a 180 per cent YoY surge in services and seats towards Uttar Pradesh and Prayagraj during the mela as compared to normal days. To meet the demand, they are offering 700 services daily with 30,000 seats per day available on the Redbus platform.

Inevitably the hotel industry is also part of the boom. Prayagraj has witnessed almost a 10 times jump in hotel bookings, compared to the same period last year, as per Cleartrip data.

Oyo is seeing booking requests for this period double their total available inventory. On the snan days, requests are going up to three times the number of rooms.

In terms of hotel prices, there has been a surge of around 30 per cent, according to Balaji Pothraj, Managing Director, Pothraj Group. The government has also added 2 lakh hotel rooms to support this tourism.

Platforms are offering special packages and discounts to further push tourism in this period.

Spillover to other destinations

Meanwhile, Varanasi has seen a spillover effect as an airport neighbouring Prayagraj, with a 127 per cent YoY surge in flight bookings as per Ixigo data. 

Similarly, hotel prices in Ayodhya have surged by 19 per cent, while those in Varanasi have risen by 6 per cent, as per Cleartrip data.

Connectivity shoots up

In anticipation of future growth as well, Prayagraj is now connected to over 20 destinations through direct and one-stop flights, compared to just one (Delhi) during the last Maha Kumbh 12 years ago, highlighted Bajpai. 

Along with this are over 200 new or upgraded roads, the under-construction Ganga Expressway, the railway network going from from three to eight stations, and airport upgradation ahead of Kumbh 2019, listed Pothraj.