JOIN USAs UAE eases travel restrictions, flight rates from Kerala skyrocket
A S Kumar, a native of Kollam in Kerala, was fortunate enough to get a flight ticket to UAE from Thiruvananthapuram for the third week of August for around Rs. 18,000, as he booked the ticket by Tuesday night as soon as reports of UAE lifting the travel restriction from India came.
With thousands of Malayali NRIs working in UAE reportedly stranded in Kerala after coming on leave, the flight tariff from Kerala to UAE has started skyrocketing within hours after UAE announced relaxation in the ban on flights from India.
Travel industry sources said that from the wee hours of Wednesday itself, the fares to UAE from Kerala for the next few weeks started escalating. While the normal tariff used to be around Rs 10,000, by Wednesday morning the lowest available ticket crossed the Rs. 25,000-mark.
Kerala Association of Travel Agents president K V Muraleedharan said that going by the trend, the fares would soon cross the Rs. 50,000-mark. Some more clarity was required on the travel protocol to UAE. Once it comes, there could be a further rush, he added.
As per the data available from state government agency for NRI's welfare, NORKA-Roots, around 15 lakh Malayali NRI's had returned to Kerala till July first week after the Covid-19 outbreak. Of that, 8.9 lakh were from UAE. Among the 15 lakh who returned, over 10 lakh had cited job loss. Since a large number of NRIs could have already returned, the actual job loss caused to NRI's required detailed evaluations, said sources.
While UAE imposed the travel ban on April 24, scores of Malayali's working in UAE who came down on leave were stranded in Kerala. Many of them were fearing job loss. Some travel agencies were also exploiting the opportunity by offering travel option to UAE through other countries from where no travel ban to UAE was in place. The desperate passengers were being charges hefty charges of over Rs 1 lakh, including quarantine charges at transit countries.
Malayalis constitute a major chunk of the NRI population in Kerala. Remittance from Gulf countries has been a major strength of Kerala's economy with banks in the state having a total NRI deposit of over Rs. 2 lakh crore.