Outbound travel agents have made the most of a dry summer. Attractive packages and rock bottom fares made many Indians head abroad, despite the recession. 

The travel industry was prepared for a dry summer but discounts raining down for the last two months have born some fruit.

Both international and domestic airlines flying abroad managed to increase their load factors by 6.5 per cent from April as well as a year ago.

With the steepest discounts of up to 40 per cent, lower fares for packages to South Asian countries were eagerly lapped up. While the two month promotional fare of Rs 8000 return for Cathay Pacific's new Delhi-Bangkok flight was an absolute sell out.  

"When it comes to leisure we were taken aback. The period ranging from January-March was not good for us. But come April with the start of summer holidays in Mumbai and in May in Delhi, we have seen our flights go completely booked,” said Rakesh Raicar, marketing manager-India, Cathay Pacific. 

A 2 per cent drop in foreign tourist arrivals this May from a year ago has not been very surprising, with swine flu adding to the recession gloom. Though the pick up of outbound travel is heartening, it may be too premature to call it a full blown revival.  

"There has been a peak for about four weeks ever since the election results were announced, people became very bullish about travel. But now with the summer holidays coming to an end, we have not seen too many fresh bookings,” said Ankur Bhatia, MD, Amadeus India. 

Cost conscious Indian traveler is not cutting back on his summer vacation but the urge to splurge. Attractive discounts and packages have made this possible with short haul destinations coming up as clear favourites.