HYDERABAD: A 60 percent surge in inter-state bus travel with more than 4.5 lakh bus bookings has been seen in the last five weeks, as per AbhiBus, an online bus travel aggregator based in Hyderabad. Of these, 55 per cent of travellers have been completely vaccinated and 32 per cent have received the first dose.
Following relaxation of lockdown restrictions in several states and owing to rise in vaccination rates, the confidence amongst travellers has fueled leisure travel, besides essential travel. Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, Visakhapatnam, Jaipur and Chennai among others, have been the most preferred travel destinations since June. Currently, business and professional travel still forms the bulk of this uptick in demand with a slight increase in non-professional and leisure travel.
According to AbhiBus, along with the rise in leisure travel, it has also witnessed a rise in vaccine-related travel. “We are witnessing a welcome surge in leisure travel across the country and that is a great sign for the industry. We hope that with higher vaccination rates, people feel safer to travel and revisit their travel plans which have been on hold for the past year,” said Rohit Sharma, COO, AbhiBus.