Here’s where Indians want to travel to this long Republic Day weekend

With the first long weekend of the year falling on January 26, Republic Day weekend, Indians have their bags packed and ready to go. Three-day holidays to domestic destinations seems to be on a few travellers’ checklist.

A 43% rise in bookings to Delhi this Republic day weekend has been noticed by FCM Travel Solutions, the company said in a report on Tuesday.

“The first long weekend of 2018 (January 26- January 28) has definitely resulted in a significant uptake in domestic travel bookings. In line with the recent holiday trend of short haul vacations, Goa, Kerala, Rajasthan and Andaman are gaining whopping popularity due their favourable weather conditions,” Spokesperson Shravan Gupta, Executive Director - Leisure Businesses, FCM Travel Solutions India said.

International spots have also shared the limelight with domestic ones for travellers preparing a quick getaway abroad.

“While domestic destinations are the favourite with travellers this time, short-haul and easy visa international locales such as Singapore, Thailand, Bali, Maldives and Mauritius are seeing an upswing, too.

Perennial favourite - Dubai has also seen an increased interest amongst travellers owing to the extravagant Dubai Shopping Festival 2018,”Gupta added.

“At FCM, we have also observed a steady rise in bookings to New Delhi owing to the much-awaited celebrations at the Republic Day parade, along the Rajpath, past India Gate - an interesting trend, this long weekend. As compared to last year, this time, we have seen a rise of 43 % (approx.) in bookings the said destinations," Gupta said.

Airlines have started doling out offers to customers with cheap air fares and attractive discounts.

Aviation major, IndiGo, in its Republic Day sale is offering Rs 797 for flight bookings made through all channels during the offer period for the travel period - January 22, 2018 and January 25, 2018.

IndiGo followed GoAir and Spicejet who have also started offering heavy discounts.

SpiceJet announced a four-day long Republic Day sale. SpiceJet is offering an all-inclusive one-way fare starting as low as Rs 769.

For international flight tickets, the price starts from Rs 2,469 for selected destinations. The offer is only applicable till January 25.

GoAir is also offering ticket prices at lower rates. The airline is offering domestic flight tickets to Delhi from 14 cities at an all-inclusive price of Rs 1,485 till January 25.