Like much else in India, a lot if happening and very quickly when it comes to the travel sector. If you have friends and family that have visited India a couple of decades ago, some of the chaos might be familiar and forewarned but the depth and breadth of experiences for the traveller are only getting better.
This blog post on Tripzuki looks not just as traveller trends, but also the evolution of the travel industry within India, which is after all a reflection of the former.
As Joe from Tripzuki takes a long, hard, honest and analytical view of travel in India, he ends most poignantly on these words to remember:
“(India is) still an exasperating place to holiday (and an exasperating place to live!) but the rewards of travel in India remain as rich as ever.”
The advent of hostels
Hostels were never really a part of the Indian tourism story. Yes, there have always been low budget options for backpackers, but recently we’ve seen hostels mushrooming across the tourist trail, most noticeably around Rajasthan and Agra.
Set-ups like Zostel and Moustache are offering a cheap, basic hostel experience, making life a lot easier, and the country more accessible, for the lowest-budget traveller. And we’re not talking just international kids on a gap year, but young Indian kids out for adventure. So much so that Zostel has plans for a staggering 30 more properties in the second half of 2015.
“Indian travellers’ mindset has evolved significantly over the past few years” says Pavaan Nanda, a co-founder of Zostel. “Travel is seen as a mode of self-realisation, exploration and experiencing different forms of lifestyles. Leisure travel is not a product of luxury but rather considered a necessity to consolidate one’s energy.”
This is the overarching trend we’ll illustrate throughout his article, the change in mindset that is manifest in young India, a different attitude to travel and an enthusiasm for the business of travel.
The growth of boutique hotels
Boutique hotels, privately run small hotels, arty hotels with just a few rooms. However you want to define what a boutique hotel is, and here at Tripzuki we pontificate on this quite a bit, they have undoubtedly increased in number in recent years, particularly attracting foreign tourists at all levels and especially those with deeper pockets. We think boutique hotels should be a key element in India’s plans to boost tourism, almost always presenting an opportunity for tourists to be more engaged with their surroundings (and less in a resort ‘bubble’) while still having a certain level of comfort.
Unfortunately, the ‘boutique’ tag is severely abused and misused by the ranks of private, old school and often state-supported corporate hoteliers. Quality will always rise, surely, but the lack of any consistent and trustworthy starring system remains an obstacle, and probably always will.
Researching accommodation to find quality is where the internet comes into its own, but this is also where the planning process gets tricky, even more so in India. We see a large disparity between the tastes and standards of the emerging Indian middle class and those of the established upper-middle class, the former having a huge presence on social media and hotel review sites. The disparity becomes even more acute when western tourists are added to the mix, thus Indian hotels are exposed to a wider mix of tastes than perhaps those of any other country. Pleasing a young family from Ahmedabad, a designer from Mumbai and a couple of grandparents from Denmark is a tricky thing!
New destinations
One of the clearest trends we are seeing is a willingness to explore new regions, amongst both young upper-middle-class Indians and tourists from overseas. States like Gujarat, the stunning North-East and ‘heavenly’ Kashmir have seen a lot of growth in tourism, both domestic and international, as infrastructure improves and more providers come online.
In the already famous state of Rajasthan, lesser known districts like Pali are now hitting the international visitor’s radar, boosted by their central locations and proximity to improved airports and, in the case of the above, national parks and safari options.
Also, particularly in Rajasthan, small rural villages are now gaining popularity thanks to boutique set-ups like Chandelao Garh and Deogarh, both representing authentic, intriguing, safe and relatively accessible offbeat destinations, mostly appealing to Europeans.
See what other travel trends have taken over India, read the full article at the link below.
Read full article: The latest trends in Indian tourism
Reposted from: Tripzuki
Picture credit: Tripzuki
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