new delhi international airfares are on the rise as the rupee is falling at a time when students from india fly abroad to join foreign universities leading to a surge in demand for air travel travel professionals say higher airfares and weak rupee could impact outbound tourism significantly in coming months or alter the holiday habits of the middleclass indian globetrotter the return fare from india to uk and europe was about rs 51000 last month now it is closer to rs 68000 similarly return fare from india to new york and chicagowashington in july was rs 73000 and rs 84000 that is now rs 96000 and rs 91000 this is due to beginning of student travel season and weakening of rupee said benson samuel of riya travels the return fare to mauritius has gone up from rs 32000 to rs 40000 samuel added anil kalsi of delhibased ambe world travels said airfares have two components base fares and taxessurcharge the latter are directly linked to currency valuation since they have gone up average international airfares are up by rs 3000 to rs 4000 he said airlines both foreign and indian did not comment although all desi carriers said their operating costs will go up as their major costs like aircraft lease rentals maintenance and fuel are linked to the dollar singapore airlines said it had raised fuel surcharge by rs 300 on a return ticket to the island nation travel portal yatra president sharat dhall said if the dollar keeps getting dearer travel to the west will get affected it becomes a mental block with tourists that they will have to spend more on everything since all emerging market currencies are taking a hit indian tourists will find going to places like thailand where the baht too has fallen an economical option he said as a thumb rule packages costs rise by about half of the percentage fall of the rupee so if the rupee falls 5 package costs to the west will rise by 25 manmeet ahluwalia marketing head of expedia india said a recent report of the travel portal showed that indians dont cancel their bookings if the rupee falls instead they would adopt different measures to keep within their holiday budget