Bus Travelers chose Pilgrimage over party as Tirupati beat Goa in December 2020

• 136% M-o-M increase in Bus Bookings to Tirupati in December 2020 with over 50,000 online bus bookings in December 2020
• 60% rise in bookings for Tirupati compared to 10% rise in bookings for Goa v/s December 2019
• This is despite sanctions over daily darshan count- capped at 30,000 per day v/s 90,000 daily limit- pre-COVID

 January 11th, 2021, Hyderabad: AbhiBus, a leading online bus travel aggregator has witnessed bus bookings for Tirupati overtaking Goa in December 2020. The online bus travel aggregator has witnessed a 60% rise in bus bookings to Tirupati in December 2020 over December 2019 wherein there has been a 10% spike in the Goa route.

The online bus aggregator has witnessed a 136% month on month spike in engagement in December 2020 with over 50,000 online bus bookings through its platform abhibus.com and mobile apps. This development is a result of gradual easing in the lockdown wherein people started traveling across states that were restricted otherwise in the past 6-7 months. Bookings to Tirupati have seen a considerable increase with around 1000 average daily bookings from Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Bangalore, Anantapur & Kurnool. Travelers to Goa have mostly been noticed from Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, and Ahmedabad.

Sharing his insight to this exponential spike in engagement during December, Rohit Sharma, Chief Operating Officer of Abhibus said, “We were expecting an inevitable spike during the winters as the lockdown has eased and the weather too is travel friendly. Although, the Tirumala authorities have capped daily Darshans to 30,000 - 35,000 per day as compared to usual Pre-COVID average of 90,000 per day, sentiments and faith in Pilgrimage visit played a critical role in this recent spike as everyone’s life was paused during the lockdown and people started traveling extensively post in September 2020.”

Since the lockdown was eased in September 2020, Abhibus witnessed a 32% & 36% month on month increase in bookings to Tirupati in October and November 2020, specifically during the Festive season. It has also recorded a 10% to 15% further spike in bus bookings during the weekends. 70% of travelers to Tirupati have booked their returns within 2 days of stay wherein 80% of travelers to Goa have booked their return on Abhibus’ platform within 4 days of stay.