Indians Dare to go Rare, Remote and Slow in Global Tourism

The traditional caricature of a boisterous Indian tourist, going through chartered trips equipped with food and snack is giving way to the picture of an adventurer stuck by wanderlust.

Says Vasundhra Sondhi of Outbound Marketing from Delhi, "The concept of slow life tourism is in now. Even in mass destinations such as Thailand, we introduce our clients to remote Buddhist havens, distant spas and resorts."

Essentially, this means that tourism has become a way of unwinding more than ever, superseding interests in sight-seeing or shopping. It also means that destinations become far flung, sometimes as far as Peru or New Zealand. Singapore Airlines has tied up with the New Zealand tourism board to launch a tourism campaign in India.

Thomas Cook's holiday package to South America has suddenly become popular in the past two years, according to the agency's chief operating officer Vishal Suri. "People who have visited South America so far have all travelled extensively in Europe and North America and want to spend a minimum of 10-15 days exploring the mysterious Amazon and the Incas of Machu Picchu now," he said.

The overpowering drive is to explore the unexplored rather than conquer the famous. Yes, the Indian traveller has arrived. According to Christy Rajan of Travel Agents Association of India, the world has recognised it and treats Indian tourists on par with American or European tourists now.

"Indians are not just international job seekers and migrant settlers anymore. They are travellers bringing valuable revenue," he says. "That is why you see countries opening up their Visa policy for Indian tourists along with their Chinese counterparts now."

For instance, Jordan, which opened up its tourism market for Europeans and Americans about 10 years back, has lifted its Visa regulations for Indians only this year. "We had 38,000 Indian visitors last year," says Jordan tourism board consultant Ashish Sharma. "It started with a large influx of religious tourists mainly from south India touring Jordan, Egypt and Israel."

Now, Indian tourists can obtain Visa on arrival, free of cost in Jordan and also Asian countries such as Sri Lanka and Thailand. But, some destinations are worth the trouble of a prior Visa. Visa Consultancy Services probably handles the most interesting destinations with Brazil, Turkey and even Uzbekistan on its list. "Uzbekistan and its capital of Tashkent provide a European cosmopolitan environment at Indian costs and so they are popular," its proprietor Vipul C Shah says.

These places are also meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions (MICE) tourism destinations. Royal Film Commission of Jordan extended this concept to the film shooting industry by offering its deserts for shooting Indian Jones and Lawrence of Arabia movies. Cyprus is yet another tiny country which has been attracting Indian tourists. "Cyprus is the closest European destination for Indian travellers. Being a Mediterranean island destination, its appeal is to families, adventurers, couples alike," says Cox and Kings vice president Ashutosh Mehere.

SOURCE:
Financial Chronicle
Edition - New Delhi