Gandhinagar: Contrary to other states, Gujarat has a provision for school vacation during Diwali. The people of Gujarat celebrate Diwali and take a pause in routine life for a few days, which is unique to the state. For this reason, during, before, and after Diwali, one can see crowds of Gujaratis touring across all major tourist destinations across Gujarat, India, and the world.

Be it Singapore or Dubai or Europe or Kashmir or Kerala or Goa or Udaipur or Jaipur or Jaisalmer-Jodhpur or Diu or Delhi, Gujaratis are dominating the tourist inflow. The special vegetarian tour packages offered by various tourism companies are fully booked with Gujaratis from Gujarat and Mumbai in vacation mode.

Within the state, most hotels are full across major intra-state tourist destinations in Gujarat, such as Dwarka, Somnath, Gir, Kutch, Junagadh, Saputara, Statue of Unity, among others. Religious places like Ambaji, Pavagadh, etc., are also attracting a large number of visitors. At times, traffic jams can be seen on the highway and roadway stretches connecting the tourist destinations.

A 21-day long Diwali vacation in schools across Gujarat is from 28 October to 17 November. Businesses are generally closed from Dhanteras (in some cases from Diwali) to Labh Pancham (sixth day from Diwali). The biggest festival of the year for the people of Gujarat, which is Vikram Samvat in the Gujarati Hindu calendar, comes after Diwali. This period from Diwali to Labh Pancham is the peak time for vacationing in Gujarat.

The prices of hotels and transport go sky-high during this period, thanks to the extraordinary rush of Gujarati tourists. Also, millions of laborers return to their native states from industrious Gujarat ahead of Diwali. As per an estimate, one-third of the population of Surat city leaves the city for travel and vacation stays in native states like Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Bihar, Rajasthan, and the Saurashtra part of Gujarat. DeshGujarat