The CAA said 85, 000 people could be stranded abroad and 200, 000 have made advance bookings with the company.

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Last month, some local airlines including Jet Airways have offered cheaper fares for advance bookings to attract customers.

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"The Cheltenham effect has massively boosted advance bookings, although we are still down by about 5%, " he said.

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While cumulative advance bookings for Costa have improved, they remain below year-earlier levels.

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But advance bookings may grow, thanks to a boom in start-ups competing to become the prime online aggregator of such transactions, such as GetYourGuide and Zozi.

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For the rest of 2012 and first half of 2013, cumulative advance bookings, excluding its Costa business, are down from a year earlier on slightly lower prices.

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He said he already has many advance bookings.

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Total advance bookings across all of Carnival Corp.

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"What's encouraging is that we had a huge advance in bookings and that stayed up even through the disaster, " he said.

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For all these special eateries, bookings are required, often weeks in advance.

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Cruise operators typically take bookings for the peak European summer holiday season several months in advance.

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