Turkey, Vietnam top picks among Bengalureans; Sri Lanka catching on

Travel to Sri Lanka has gone up among Bengalureans because of the buzz around the Ram temple in Ayodhya, a travel company told Metrolife.

It was World Tourism Day on January 25. Metrolife asked experts which destinations are trending among Bengalureans.

Vietnam and Turkey have become sought-after countries in the past one year while countries like Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore continue to remain favourites.

Ramayana trail in Lanka

In the last 3-4 months, Nesara Tours, Nagarbhavi, has got many enquiries for the Ramayana trail in Sri Lanka. “It covers areas like Nuwara Eliya, Jaffna, Colombo, and Yala National Park in Sri Lanka,” says Karthik Marathe, partner of the tour operator company.

New shores

Mahipal Singh, partner, Sonana Travel World, Nagarathpete, has observed a surge in bookings for Turkey, Dubai, Hong Kong and various places in China. Istanbul, Cappadocia, and  Antalya are most visited spots in Turkey.

Explaining the lure of Turkey, Mahipal says, “Turkey offers a mixed vibe of Europe and Asia. Since getting a visa for European countries has been tough in the last few months, people are flocking to Turkey.”

Bangkok and Pattaya in Thailand have long been a fixture on the itineraries of Indians. Now people are looking for newer shores like Phuket, Krabi, Chiang Mai, and Langkawi in Malaysia, says Shamanth Krishnamurthy, proprietor of Sanman Travels, Majestic. Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Seychelles are other destinations in demand,
he observes.

Easy visa

Thailand remains a popular choice for its easy visa-on-arrival feature, nightlife and beaches. Vietnam is also seeing a lot of bookings. “The visa procedures to Vietnam are easy and it has not been explored much by Indians,” says Mahipal.

Nesara also gets a lot of bookings for Bali and Vietnam. “These are cheaper travel options currently. Also, these places are close to nature and have beaches. March is a good season to travel there,” adds Karthik.

Thailand and Malaysia are top picks at Sanman Travels because they are “affordable”, reasons Shamanth.

Pilgrimage tour

According to Rajiv Mehrotra, executive director of Wilson Garden-located Holiday Concierge, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Dubai, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan have stayed top choices among Bengalureans since 2022. “Other picks are Christian pilgrimages in Europe that cover around 45 churches spread across nine countries such as Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, and the Netherlands,” Rajiv says. 

Indonesia, Vietnam and Cambodia are also seeing more visitors, he adds.