DOHA: A lot of people have suddenly travelled out of the country to spend Eid Al Adha vacations and they include Qatari as well as expatriate individuals and families. A little before Eid Al Adha holidays, there was so much rush, especially for destinations within the Middle East, that several airlines were forced to introduce additional flights. Egypt Air was one of them, it is learnt. The traffic was more for cities like Cairo, Amman, Damascus and Beirut, tour and travel operators said. Some of the people were prompted to travel overseas because they didn’t leave the country during the long summer and Eid Al Fitr vacations due to the swine flu scare.

But travel industry sources maintain that it is too early to say if the travel and tourism sector is improving as a whole. “While it is true that there was a sudden surge in demand for overseas travel ahead of Eid, to see a pattern we have to wait and watch,” an industry source told this newspaper. He admitted the entire industry was taken by surprise by the sudden surge. “It, of course, left us happy.”

Travel trade has suffered hugely due to the world financial crisis and the H1N1 scare. According to sources, the sector is down no less than 40 percent globally ever since the twin problems rose their heads.

There is gradual improvement but to be sure that the sector is recovering steadily one has to wait until February-March next year for the schools to have spring and Easter vacations, a source from a local travel company said.

This is the time when most people travel out of the country. Westerners who haven’t been home during Christmas holidays, prefer to travel this time.

Also Qatari families which have their children studying either in Independent or Western schools go vacationing overseas.

This year, there was hardly any rush during spring and Easter holidays as a fallout of the world economic meltdown and the swine flu scare. “We, though, expect the situation to improve next spring,” said yet another travel industry source.