Image caption: Dilip Modi, Founder, Travel Union
Rural tourism has gained major traction in the past few months as governments globally imposed international travel bans and COVID restrictions. With long isolation periods, many people are making travel plans to rejuvenate themselves after being hemmed in their homes for a long time.
While making their travel plans, many domestic tourists have shown a growing inclination to explore the rural regions of the country. This presents the perfect opportunity for hospitality and tourism players to take advantage of this interest and boost their business.
This is where rural travel agents play a key role. Looking at this potential, Travel Union was introduced to democratise the rural travel sector. Dilip Modi, Founder of Travel Union explains to Vinita Bhatia how they have significant insight into not only the needs of consumers but also some unique rural tourist spots making them the right people to consult when planning a trip to rural regions of the country. Hence, the company is tapping into this knowledge by onboarding rural travel agents as Travel Union members to leverage the growing interest in rural tourism.
How can rural tourism be advantageous to the hospitality industry?
As with other changes brought by the pandemic, this emerging trends could benefit our country’s tourism industry immensely in the coming times. Travel enabling platforms should capitalise on this opportunity and provide personalised offerings when it comes to bookings and hotel stays.
How can they make the most of this opportunity?
Partnerships with localities to run budget homestays for travellers, something on the lines of a rural AirBnB will further help in providing better facilities to travellers. This would help travellers actually experience the place and generate a decent source of income for the community and uplifting their standards of living.
Along with this, providing a detailed itinerary of the locations, top picks and the best time to visit these places along with free guided tours will help in creating awareness about these destinations that will further accelerate the growth for rural tourism. The opportunities for rural India are immense, and is a gold mine that is discovered but still waiting to be utilised appropriately.
It is essential for players in rural tourism to join forces with local state and district level government agencies to build better hotels and safe stays. What challenges do they usually face in this regard and how can they overcome this?
In terms of the challenges, it is mostly seen that ways of living and socialising in urban and rural India are different, which may become a point of friction between travellers and locals. Hence, along with travellers being mindful of the local cultural and social ethos, it is also time and habit that will allow the locals to warm up to a differentiated way of living of their urban counterparts.
Key representatives of the hospitality industry, private travel firms could also visit such places and interact with the local communities to understand what they/their region has to offer to visitors and can bring the region to the fore accordingly. It is key that we, as industry players, are able to highlight the opportunities such activities shall roll in for locals, to enthuse them about the idea and ensure they receive it well.
In a country that adheres to sentiment of ‘Atithi Devo Bhava’ or Guest is God, it is important that this sentiment is communicated enough to the local stakeholders, along with other benefits that will be enjoyed by the localites and enable them to be Atma Nirbhar!
Why and how can hotel companies involve local communities to ensure that travellers have an opportunity to explore offbeat activities?
Being responsible as we go on about our lives, is something we all must inculcate to ensure a better future for our next generation, which is why even in tourism, concepts such as sustainable tourism, ecotourism and community-based tourism are gaining more takers. Social enterprises and offbeat travel companies are increasingly pushing sustainable tourism in India and globally.
Involving local decision makers like village heads or panchayats, communicating with the communities as a whole and educating them about the urban ways of living would help them better understand the behaviour of travellers, in turn also portraying to them a better way of living. Introducing them to hospitality as an industry and building awareness about how big the tourism industry is in India/globally will enable them to partake in the growth story. Along with this, since local resources will be heavily utilised, we must ensure that the benefits are received by the community.
What is the tangible and intangible impact of rural tourism on the local community in the short and mid-term?
Tourism certainly does impact people at a local or international level. The obvious tangible impact of tourism could be the improvement in the local community’s current standard of living, additional employment opportunities, financial support and overall inclusion in India’s development story and significant impact on the revenue generation.
The intangible impacts on the other hand may be few but can’t be missed. Tourism can increase awareness of the local population, widen the horizon of the children or young adults present there. In my opinion tourism can act as a soft-power, wherein, we change the way India is viewed internationally. While international travellers have always appreciated Indian culture, there are many destinations that still remain unexplored.
Familiarising them with the various cultural offerings our great country offers should certainly increase any tourist’s affinity towards our country and its people. Yoga and its practitioners are an example that immediately comes to mind, India is the center for spiritual awakening and learning/practicing yoga is India’s gift to the world that is helping people heal.
Just like this, our other art forms, local sports, dance forms, history, and food can be highlighted and should definitely play an important role in India making its name as a truly heritage-rich country globally. The benefits of this in the long-term will be experienced by our people and the country when Indian passports are looked at with awe and admiration.
As people shun dense urban areas and seek lesser-known destinations; how can hoteliers promote activities like adventure, historical and religious tourism while making their travel journey simpler, easier and more seamless?
Travel and technology go hand in hand to promote rural tourism. The penetration of technology in rural regions is increasing day by day and this could be leveraged to educate the locals on promoting local adventure sites, historical sites and showcase the religious significance such regions hold.
Convenience could be offered to travellers by leveraging a good mix of physical and human hospitality and intelligent technology offerings. Imagine travelling to a destination with all your needs taken care of; right from bookings, hotel stays, enjoying local experiences, local travel, everything. Of course, not everybody may need end to end solutions, although, this can be preempted with the use of AI and machine learning to offer customised offerings based on searches and queries logged. Such offerings could slowly be incorporated by travel agents, hotels, or travel agents to offer more holistic services.
