Bengaluru: Long weekend spurs exodus to getaways, hotels fully booked

BENGALURU: With Good Friday this week, many city residents have chalked out plans for the long weekends and many getaways near the city are reporting heavy bookings at hotels and resorts. The fact that it also happens to be spring season has further motivated city residents.

Raksha, an IT professional at Siemens said, “Right when we get our yearly planner, we mark our calendars for such long weekends. We had been looking forward to it and I am going with my office colleagues to Ooty.”

According to tourism department officials Mysuru, Kodagu, Wayanad in Kerala and Ooty in Tamil Nadu are the most sought after weekend gateways, while Bandipur and Nagarahole have also emerged as popular tourist destination.

Sonu Changappa, owner of O2 home stay in Kodagu said, “Most of the tourists coming to Kodagu have booked their rooms earlier. Because it’s a long weekend, we expect the booking to increase to 70% as more tourists from Bengaluru and Mysuru will be coming in.”

According to Mysuru hotel owner Nagarjunappa, most of the hotel rooms were booked in February itself. “Many have planned this vacation way ahead and almost all the hotels, lodges and resorts are full this time. Even the hotels and resorts on the city outskirts are completely occupied till first week of April,” he said.

Madhukiran, Managing Director, Chariot Tours Ltd, said, “In Bengaluru there are many IT professionals. If they get a long weekend, they prefer going on a trip and plan things in advance. For this weekend we have more tourists going to Coorg and Ooty as well as to North Eastern part of the country.

He also revealed that his company was offering different packages based on the customers’ requirement such as the number of days they are looking for, the stay and food they prefer and the activities they have in mind.

“Such long weekends are our chance for promotion and business as well so we try to come up with good deals for customers and also offer discounts for early booking,” he added.

“There will also be an increase in domestic tourists at destinations across the state because of the long weekend,” said Ratnakar, a senior official from Tourism Department. He also said that during such occasions there will be increase of 20% to 30% compared with usual days.

“We could not make a plan way ahead of time, but we managed to get bookings last week. Thank to various apps and websites, there are ample options these days like hotels, resorts, home stays or OYO rooms, according to one’s preference,” said Sahil, a student of Sapthagiri College of Engineering, who is going to Coorg with his friends over the weekend.