Singapore is the partner country at Travel and Tourism Fair 2008

Skyrocketing airfares are not going to derail your travel plans. This year’s travel and tourism fair organisers said on Thursday that the rising price of air turbine fuel would not affect leisure tourism.

“Airfares might have gone up but the overall cost of tour packages is nearly the same as last year,” said Sanjiv Agarwal, the chairman and managing director of Fairfest Media Ltd, which is organising the Travel and Tourism Fair 2008. The fair will be held from August 2 to 4 at Netaji Indoor Stadium and Khudiram Anushilan Kendra.

“Airfares have gone up, but hotel prices have come down, especially in the domestic sector. So, there is not much of an impact on the overall price of tour packages,” Agarwal explained. According to tour operators, the average airfare hike was 15 per cent, but the hotel prices in all categories have fallen by 10 to 20 per cent.

“The packages to Bangkok and Singapore and to domestic destination are as competitive as ever,” said a Calcutta-based tour operator.

According to the organisers, the competitive prices have attracted over 250 participants to this year’s travel and tourism fair, including many from abroad. Eight countries are taking part this year, against six in 2007.

Singapore, which is the partner country, and Malaysia are returning to the fair after a year. Thailand, Dubai, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Nepal and Indonesia — the popular destinations from Calcutta and other parts of Bengal — are also taking part.

Among the states that will set up camps are Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.

“The fair is being organised at this time as people from Calcutta start making their travel plans for the Puja from now,” Agarwal said.