ahmedabad with a weeklong break at disposal the advance bookings for diwali holidays are up by 2040 compared to the previous year as amdavadis are heading to newer destinations in india as well as in foreign locations there is a rush for the lastminute bookings but there are no seats available to destinations like kerala and goa after economic slowdown in the past two years the mood in the market is on positive side and people are keen to travel said sanjeev chajjer vicepresident cox kings travel is clearly nonnegotiable for gujaratis and such long weekends offer great holiday potential the upcoming diwali weekend offers impactful opportunity for international short breaks and has further fuelled demand witnessing an impressive upswing of over 20 in queries said shibani phadkar senior vicepresident and head leisure travel thomas cook india ltd last year i could not travel to thailand which i had planned i dropped the idea because of inflation and instead went to goa with my wife but this year i am travelling to dubai and singapore said tushar modi a citybased professional we have reported an increase of over 30 in bookings to a diverse range of domestic favourites like north east coorg mysore goa shimla jaipur lonawla and kerala from gujarat said rajeev kale president and coo mice thomas cook india ltd according to tour operators the trend of festive travelling is growing exponentially despite spiralling airfare and high room charges in hotels people are travelling due to floods in kashmir the traffic has moved on to destinations like shimla and kerala said a citybased tour operator this year we are seeing exotic short haul locales like abu dhabi oman uzbekistan and philippines getting place in travel list of amdavadis shorthaul favourites like thailand dubai and singapore which offer easy access of an under 5hour flight have witnessed a 2540 rise in hotel bookings for this weekend added phadkar according to the travel agents a positive outcome of the depreciating rupee has led to the renewed interest in domestic tourism