Those looking for Eid Al-Adha holiday booking are bound to be disappointed. All popular tourist destinations in South and Southeast Asia and Europe have either been booked or their prices have shot up to levels that make it impossible to travel for last-minute travelers.

Many travelers had anticipated the dates and planned accordingly. Those who decided to wait until the 11th hour are facing a tough time.

Despite a price increase of between 50 to more than 100 percent in airfares to South Asian destinations it is not easy to find seat nowadays. Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Turkey remain popular destinations for Saudi holidaymakers, but finding a flight and accommodation — even at a higher price — is becoming difficult. Dubai and Bahrain, top regional destinations for Saudi holidaymakers, are also fully booked.

Mirza N. Baig, a business executive, said to change his flight from one date to another would cost him nearly SR1,400. He had no choice but to keep his ticket on the earlier booked date.

For economy class tickets, there is an increase of SR1,200 to SR1,700 for most South Asian destinations. The price for destinations in Pakistan is among the highest. A trip Jeddah-Islamabad cost SR1,849 before Eid. Now the same trip would fetch SR3,237.

Jeddah-Hyderabad used to be SR1,700 but is now SR2,500 per ticket. A similar scenario prevails in Calicut, Mumbai and Chennai, Lahore, Karachi and Dhaka routes.

Prices are skyrocketing for Manila and Cairo also. Usually there is not much demand for Manila in Eid Al-Adha holidays as most Filipinos prefer to travel in December but this year there was an increase in trips to Manila. Jeddah-Manila would amount to SR2,600 prior to Eid, but now it went up to SR3,740.

A Jeddah-Cairo fare would be SR1,517. The same ticket now cost SR2,400.

Travel agents say that price will drop in a week.

Many expatriate workers are in the process of changing their profession or employer to rectify their work status before the end of the grace period on Nov. 3. Their passports are being processed so they cannot travel abroad.

Mohammed Baqar, an Indian expatriate who works with a major telecom infrastructure maintenance company based in Jazan, said, “I am having the longest holidays and would like to travel to home. As I am in the process of rectifying the status, my passport is with the new employer and I can’t travel.”

Domestic flight destinations like Jeddah, Riyadh and Dammam were also fully booked for the coming 15 days, said travel sources.