It's seldom that the Sethis go for a holiday without taking their daughter along. But
the 19-year-old girl was busy with her examinations when Rajesh Sethi spotted the advertisement in a newspaper: for as little as Rs 24,500, SriLankan Airlines would take a couple to the Emerald Isle on economy class; four nights and five days stay (breakfast included) at a five-star hotel in Colombo or Bentota; no hidden costs, no add-ons, nothing.

Cover Story OTHER STORIES RELATED TO COVER International Discounts

"The price was simply unbelievable," says the 47-year-old businessman still exulting though it has been a week since he returned. "When such an offer comes your way, I feel you can afford to take a few days off from work to relax and get away from it all." This from a man whom wife Madhu describes as "a workaholic who never takes more than a week off from work". She herself would rather have visited a foreign country "where there is a bigger difference between our culture and theirs ... but he was so keen". What clinched it finally was the price factor.

Goa 50% Off Faced with a 30 per cent drop in tourists, God's Own Country is targeting foreign backpackers and domestic tourists with a range of packages.

It may be the season of loss. Not just in human lives. The world's largest economies are in recession. The sounds of employees being fired by corporates reverberate as much as the bombs being dropped on Afghanistan. This should not be the time for leisurely cruises along Australia's Gold Coast. Or for that matter babewatching on a Thai beach. Yet in an unusual turn of events it is the doom that is giving leisure and pleasure seekers an unprecedented bonanza in travel deals.

Kerala God's price Faced with a 30 per cent drop in tourists, God's Own Country is targeting foreign backpackers and domestic tourists with a range of packages.

"Unbelievable", "too good to resist", "incredible offer" ... these cliches are now a reality across the country as tourists are finding out. Airlines, hotels and tour operators, still reeling under the impact of September 11, are trying to convert adversity into opportunity and are resorting to desperate measures-slashing prices and offering fantastic travel packages in an effort to fill up empty airline seats and vacant hotel rooms. They know why. Through winter and right up to March, over 2.5 million foreign tourists-at least a third of them Americans-traditionally flock to India. But post 9/11 the tidings are gloomy. The Tour International Association, the apex body of the US travel industry, has forecast an 11 per cent drop in business travel and a 9 per cent drop in leisure travel by Americans after the WTC attacks.

Australia 30% off Go bargain hunting Down Under. Your chance to see the Sydney Opera House and the Gold Coast at a discount. Tour operators are offering holidays in Australia at almost two-thirds of what they cost this season last year.

The aftershocks are already being felt in India. October witnessed a steep 28.8 per cent fall in foreign tourist arrivals and November offered little consolation with a 25.5 per cent drop. Suddenly the industry is discovering that India has a domestic traveller who could more than make up for the substantial drop in videshi arrivals. "Events outside have not affected domestic tourism which has been growing at an average of 15 to 20 per cent in the past few years. This is the market that holds the key to tourism in India this year and the industry would do well to focus on this segment and work out packages," says M.P. Bezbaruah, who retired as Union tourism secretary recently.

The industry, it seems, is already heeding his words. And the Indian traveller has never had it so good. Star hotels and heritage resorts, which exclusively targeted foreign tourists, have changed tune and are going all out to woo desi tourists travelling within India. Discounts and special packages are being doled out to spur demand. And big tour operators like Thomas Cook, SOTC and Cox and Kings, hotel chains like the Taj and Oberoi Groups and airlines like Jet Airways and Air Sahara as well as smaller players across the country are suddenly waking up to the potential of tapping the Indian traveller. It would be difficult to resist such tempting offers:

Premola Ghose & Urmila Dongre, Off to Sri Lanka "We've never gone on such a cheap trip in all our lives." Ghose, programme officer at India International Centre, Delhi, is a self-confessed workaholic. But Rs 24,500 for two (economy class tickets on SriLankan Airlines and 5-star hotel stay) was too tempting. So it was off to Colombo with her good friend Dongre, a photographer.

# SOTC, the outbound group travel division of Kuoni Travels, slashed the price of its 11-day holiday trip to South Africa from Rs 1,04,286 last year to Rs 76,752. And if that was not attractive enough, it threw in two nights free in Dubai, along with visas.

# Cox & Kings has laid out the works for its Goa New Year Bonanza: three nights and four days at Rs 11,690 per person on a twin-sharing basis, including return airfare to Mumbai, accommodation, all buffet meals, transfers, sightseeing and add-ons like a boat cruise. A saving of almost 50 per cent compared to last year.

# Smaller players are equally aggressive. The Mumbai based Shree Raj Travel and Tours is throwing a whirlwind tour of all the key cities in Australia for Rs 39,999 per person, including air fare-down by Rs 10,000 from last year.

Cover Story Domestic Discounts With foreigners deserting India, local tourists are now king Less than half. That is what you pay for a holiday in Rajasthan compared to last year. A three-city, seven-day tour costs Rs 30,000 per person and includes five-star stay, airfare ex Delhi, breakfast and dinner. Jaipur Rs 21,000 (Six nights, seven days +all meals) Manali hotels are giving discounts of up to 70 per cent. One unique package: Rs 7,500 for four nights, five days for two persons, all meals and unlimited drinks. Shimla Rs 3,300 (2 nights, 3 days+meals for couple) Goa Rs 7,550 (3 nights+airfare ex Mumbai) Last year, the Bogmalo Beach Resort in Goa offered three nights and four days for Rs 30,000 per couple. This year, the package is available for Rs 11,690 per person, and includes a return air fare ex Mumbai. Puri Rs 9,999 (2 days, 3 nights+meals) Hotels in Orissa are offering discounts of up to 50 per cent this year. At Hotel Seahawk in Puri, room tariffs have come down to Rs 300 from around Rs 500 last year. Kerala Rs 15,950 (4 nights, 5 days+return airfare ex Mumbai) Tourists from Mumbai pay almost Rs 2,000 less now than what they paid last year for stay in five-star hotels. The tariff cuts are more drastic in budget hotels and resorts.

# Not to be outdone, major airlines have tied up with hotels for special packages this holiday season. Jet Airways' Jet Escapes includes a three-day, four-night stay at the Renaissance, Goa, which comes at Rs 13,000 per person on a twin-sharing basis and includes return air tickets ex Mumbai.

The offers are so tempting that some can't seem to have enough. Mumbai-based Gaurav Dhingra, 22, part-time student, sometime worker, has been having a blast of late. He had recently gone to Goa on an "absolutely stunning" package from Air Sahara priced at Rs 6,500 per person, which included to and fro airfare as well as a three-night and four-day stay at the Whispering Palms, a four-star hotel. Then, Poonam Malhotra, 22, a veejay stylist with MTV, and a close friend of Dhingra, heard from her mom about a fabulous offer to Sri Lanka.

Before long, the two of them and six other friends had ganged up to go on the Lankan tour. They left for Colombo on December 6, each having paid Rs 13,800 for a package that includes to and fro air travel from Mumbai to Colombo by SriLankan Airlines, a four-night, five-day stay in a hotel and sightseeing. In Colombo, they will be put up at the five-star Taj Samudra and at Bentota they will stay at the Taj Exotica. Says Malhotra: "We would not have tried to go to Sri Lanka if the rates weren't so reasonable. We still have money left to go to Goa for New Year's."

This year, the industry is targeting Indians travelling abroad with never-before deals. Last year, 3.62 million Indians travelled overseas on business and leisure and the industry estimates the numbers to go up by at least 10 per cent this year. With attractive packages, tour operators are trying to convince the desi tourist that his best holiday can come cheap. Bangalore-based marketing consultant Archana Muthappa, who struck gold with a Rs 7,800 Dubai package, which includes two way air fare and a night's stay in a star hotel, says, "It's unbelievable the kind of discounts going around but you have to keeps going from one travel agent to the other for the best deals."