Omicron reaches Karnataka but Indians are not shelving their wedding plans

 Synopsis

Hotels said they haven't received any cancellations for weddings so far and events are going ahead as planned even as they are keeping a close watch on the evolving situation.

Even as the Omicron scare gets real in India with two cases detected in Karnataka, it is not impacting India's big fat wedding season just yet.

Hotels said they haven't received any cancellations for weddings so far and events are going ahead as planned even as they are keeping a close watch on the evolving situation.

An executive working at a top hotel in Bengaluru said the property had been doing encouraging business around weddings and has not received any cancellations so far.

Delhi's Le Meridien hotel, too, has not yet received any cancellations. "December is full of weddings and so is January. As things stand, conferences are also going ahead as scheduled," its COO Tarun Thakral told ET. "The cases in Delhi are not as much."

Rohit Chopra, regional director, sales and distribution at Accor for India & South Asia, said all auspicious wedding dates in the first quarter of 2022 are booked across the chain's key markets such as Goa, Jaipur, Udaipur, Delhi and Hyderabad.

"While there has been no direct impact on these bookings, we are watchful and are vigilantly monitoring the evolving situation around the new Omicron variant," he said. "It would be premature to deduce anything at present. However, we are keeping ourselves updated with government guidelines and will proceed consequently."

Online travel platform EaseMyTrip said it has witnessed a 100% increase in wedding travel bookings for the period of November 14-December 13. The most preferred domestic destinations for weddings are Gulmarg, Goa, Udaipur, Jaipur, Mussoorie, Shimla, Nainital, Corbett, Rishikesh and Port Blair. The bookings have gone up by 50% across these destinations, it said.

According to the company, the top five hotels booked for this wedding season include the Oberoi Udaivilas and Taj Lake Palace in Udaipur, ITC Grand Bharat in Gurgaon, Taj Umaid Bhawan Jodhpur, and Leela Palace Jaipur.

Manbeer Choudhary, chairman and managing director of Jewels Group of Hotels that runs five-star hotel Noor Mahal in Haryana, said no guests had approached his company for cancellations so far.