Against an increasingly volatile global backdrop, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently issued a seven-point advisory urging citizens to avoid non-essential overseas travel and prioritise domestic spending instead.
While the move forms part of a broader austerity drive aimed at protecting India’s foreign exchange reserves, it has also sent ripples through the outbound travel industry.
“We’ve received a lot of calls from clients wanting to cancel or postpone their trips,” said Pradeep Saboo, director, Guideline Travel Holidays India.
The advisory comes as India enters its traditional peak outbound travel season in May and June, a period that typically sees strong demand for travel to Southeast Asia and destinations further afield.
This uncertainty is compounded by airline capacity reductions during the peak June to August travel period.
Driven by soaring fuel costs and airspace curbs, Air India has significantly reduced frequencies on nearly 40% of its international routes, including cuts to capacity on its daily Delhi- and Mumbai-Singapore services from 1 June.
Qantas and Thai AirAsia have also announced temporary reductions to their India flight operations.