A scuba diver swims with a school of barracuda off the Malaysian island of Sipadan in Celebes Sea. (Reuters)

The sudden call for a bandh on Thursday and Friday saw an abrupt rise in the number of tourists flying abroad, mainly Southeast Asia, for Christmas.

Though the bandh has been “deferred”, it’s too late in the day to cancel the flight bookings.

Sujata Roy, a city-based entrepreneur, was planning a holiday with her family at a destination near Calcutta. But the announcement of the 48-hour bandh saw her change her plans.

“All my business appointments had become uncertain and so we changed our plans and decided to spend Christmas abroad,” Roy said.

She, her husband and their two sons left for Bangkok on a Thai Airways flight on Wednesday night.

Medical practitioner Govind Gupta usually spends Christmas in the city, but this year, he is flying to Malaysia, as most of his patients have cancelled their appointments.

“Ever since the bandh was announced, patients had been calling my clinic to cancel their appointments. Since I have nothing to do in the city during Christmas, I planned a holiday abroad,” Gupta said.

“A lot of tourists who had planned holidays in other parts of the country during Christmas have changed their plans overnight and are planning to visit international destinations,” said Anil Punjabi, chairman (east), Travel Agents Federation of India.

The two destinations up for grabs are Thailand and Malaysia, where tourists get visas on arrival and which have direct flights from Calcutta. According to Punjabi, Port Blair, too, is in great demand and flights are going almost full.

Fearing that transport would come to a standstill on Thursday and Friday, most tourists had planned to leave the city on Wednesday night. “We got a lot of queries from tourists about possible cancellation of flights and trains,” said Punjabi.

“Following the bandh call, there was a sharp rise in flight bookings for Wednesday,” said an official of Singapore Airlines, which connects the city with Kuala Lumpur.

Thai Airways, too, is recording “heavy bookings” for its Wednesday night flight.

Indian, which has direct flights between Calcutta and Bangkok, is now operating with 90 per cent passenger load, said a spokesperson for the airline.

“Bandh or no bandh, people are ready to travel,” said Sanjay Sett, managing director, Globe Forex and Travels.