this story originally appeared in on jan 28 2016mumbai the slide of the rupee against the us dollar has not only shaken the markets but it has also impacted the vacation plans of indian travellers who start planning and booking their trip now according to data compiled by etig database the rupee has depreciated by around 10 per cent against the dollar since january last year the rupee which was at around rs 617 against the dollar during january 2015 is now touching close to rs 68 a survey done by travel portal yatra found that close to 66 per cent of the travellers would avoid taking an international holiday with the rupee touching 68 while over 89 per cent were ready to go on a foreign trip if the rupee was at 61 we have always seen a change in the indian travellers behaviour with the fluctuation of the rupee the impact inevitably happens on international travel where travellers not only change their choice of destination but also compromise on accommodation in order to stay within their budget said sharat dhall president of yatracom outbound tour operators say prospective travellers will have to cough up more on foreign trips at the current exchange rates the trips have become expensive by 710 per cent than last year due to an increase in rate of exchange roe we believe that indian travellers will continue to travel and plan alternative holiday options within their budget travellers are opting for breaks where price can be controlled said daniel dsouza headsales india and nri markets tour operating kuoni india tour operators said the falling rupee will make expenses such as accommodation and local transfers expensive in outbound tours since overseas hotels and destinations quote their prices in us dollars however the fluctuating rupee has shifted focus on destinations where currencies are largely stable and are within the budget of tourists looked at from the point of view of some other destinations such as europe the middle east australia south east asia africa etc the rupee has been quite firm against these currencies making the trip even less expensive yoy ie in addition to lower airfares said anil khandelwal cfo cox kings the rupee has strengthened by around 54 per cent and 45 per cent vis vis the australian and canadian dollar respectively in the past one year leading to growth in demand for those destinations travel firm thomas cook india for instance has seen demand growth of over 25 per cent to australianew zealand and over 15 per cent growth in forward bookings to canada although travel companies have not seen any major cancellations of foreign trips some travellers are reworking their trips to focus on domestic destinations interestingly a fluctuating rupee is advantageous in putting india back on the spotlight catalysing our domestic travel business a clear strategic focus for us despite the depreciating rupee travel has become a mustdo in the indian consumers calendar and our forward bookings for summer 2016