Rupee falls, grounds Gujarat's high-flyers

AHMEDABAD: Sudha Shah got a shocker when she went to make bookings for her great Gujarati joint family's Diwali vacation abroad. She was told by her travel agent a week ago that the four day trip to Dubai will cost her Rs 40,000 per person. On Friday, she was told it will now cost her Rs 45,000.
"We are a large family of 20 persons planning to take our first trip together abroad.Now, the flight and lodging alone will set us back by one lakh rupees", said a visibly upset Shah, a housewife from Satellite. "If one includes food and shopping expenses , we will have to shell out minimum Rs 15,000 extra per person. I came back home without making any bookings. Maybe, we will opt for a holiday in India," she added.
The weakening of rupee to 50 against a dollar on Friday, which recovered only partially to Rs 49.43 per dollar on Saturday, threatens to burn a hole in the pockets of Gujarati travellers, who constitute one of the biggest chunks of outbound tourists.
Travel agents said that the falling rupee has unleashed administrative and personal-relations nightmare as travellers are arguing with them as to why should they pay extra for the vacation that they had booked two months in advance!
"Travel cost has risen by an average 8-10 per cent due to the weakening of rupee against the dollar. Since 90 per cent of people only make bookings and were to pay the money just before the trip, most Gujaratis who have booked foreign trips for Diwali will have to bear the brunt," said Sanjeev Chajjed of Cox and Kings, a travel agency. Chajjed said that while they are expecting lot of heated arguments with their clients, the hike should not result in cancellations as cancellation charges are high too.
Travel agents confessed they were facing a tough time explaining to people that they will have to pay, for example Rs 30,000-40,000 extra for the package trip to south-east Asia for a family of four. The most popular Singapore-Malaysia-Thailand package which cost Rs 85,000 per person is now expensive by Rs 8,000. This means that a straight increase of Rs 32,000 for a family of four. People shop extensively on this circuit which means that one will have to shell out at least Rs 60,000 more for the trip.
Bimal Mehta, a city-based travel designer said since they deal in group-bookings, they are now trying to buy time with their contacts abroad in the hope of rupee settling down to a little more affordable rate against dollar . "If not, we will have to pay extra, which will, of course, come out of the customers pockets," Mehta said.