wonderlustA BUSINESS TRAVEL MAGAZINEJUNE 2015

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EXPERIMENTATION OFTHE NEW AGE

WANDERERS RESULTSTO A SHIFT IN THE

TOURISM SEGMENTNICHE TOURISM PRODUCTS DEVELOPING THEIR OWNSTAND IN THE MARKET DUE TO THE CHANGING MIND-SET OF THE NEW AGE TRAVELLER FOR EXPLORING

THE UNEXPLORED DESTINATIONS

Bhoomika Thakur

Travel and tourism has become a very important part of people’slifestyle, growing and evolving at a fast pace year after year. Massesare becoming more specific and choosy in selecting a destination fortheir vacations. Traditional travel products are no longer attracting theevolved world travellers as they have become more aware and wantto experiment and explore new places. With the revolution of tech-nology and advent of internet, the desire of visiting new places andexperiencing life has increased. With a handful of products availablein the market, masses have developed their own taste for travellingand choosing a destination.The destinations has also started realizing the economic potential

of tourism and started introducing innovative products to add morepotential to their traditional products. Today, there are a lot of nichetravel products, known by a whole lot of fancy names. Popular onesare Eco, Rural, Cruise, Sports, Adventure and Wildlife Tourism. Butthere are a lot of lesser-known niche segments gaining ground in thelist. These include Ancestral, Tribal, Volunteer, Student Travel, LesbianGay Bisexual & Transgender (LGBT) travel, Photographic, GastronomicTourism, etc.For niche travel, the sky is literally the limit. There is even a new

concept called Space Tourism. It would be really interesting to notethat there is niche around graveyard as well. Graveyard Tourism is an-other new niche product available for you. It is part of Calcutta walk, aheritage walk itinerary developed by few young local enthusiastswhere they take tourists around a few graveyards of historical impor-tance.Talking about exploring new experiences, a 20 year old young trav-

eller Himanshi Sharma says that for her, travelling is all about enjoying

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JUNE 2015

wonderlustA BUSINESS TRAVEL MAGAZINE

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with her friends and having fun. Being a young traveller she wants to ex-plore new places but also keeps in mind the economical expenses of atrip. She said, “My criteria of choosing a destination is exploring the un-explored. I don’t mind getting introduced to a whole new destination asI look for change.”Media plays a pivotal role in changing the perception of travelling, be

it showcasing a destination in movies, travel shows or articles. Appreci-ating the role of media in spreading awareness, Ridhima Kapoor, a 24year old Media Marketing Manager, Brand Stand Media Pvt. Ltd., said,“With the enormous work of media showcasing different places and at-tractions, people have got much educated and they know what they wantto explore.”Kapoor is a big time foodie and travel for her is all about exploring food.

“I choose places which have an amazing variety of cuisines and comfortand peace comes after that on my priority list,” she adds.Giving a more professional and analytical approach on the new prod-

ucts that are attracting travellers, Karan Anand, Head Relationships, Coxand Kings Ltd., said, “The numbers of destinations that one can visit arelimited, however, experiences are in abundance. Travellers today are muchmore aware of what’s in store and come to us with specific demands.That’s why we have introduced the concept of ‘Xperiential Holidays’ inthe domestic market.”Anand further said, “At Cox and Kings, some of our customers ap-

proach us with very specific requests like a week-long rejuvenation atserene destinations or luxury experience in hotel/villas in Switzerland.Regular tour packages may not be able to fulfill these unique demands.In most of the cases, we have to customize the tours for such customers.”Seeing this change, Cox and Kings has also introduced some new

tourism products to cater to niche demands like Singapore wildlife pack-ages, family cruise holidays, tailor-made packages like rail holidays, selfdrive, guaranteed coach tours, safari holidays, apartment stay, privatejourneys, adventure tours, city break, island hideaways etc.Despite of availability of so many new tourism products in the market,

Chetan Raj Singh, 33 years old, Manager Sales, Neo Developers Pvt. Ltd.,still chooses the idea to somehow stick to the traditional products. “Whiletravelling with family, you cannot always explore new places. I personallychoose a destination which has heritage and history related to it. I havenot adopted changes in my choice and still like to sit together with myfamily and decide upon one destination and plan a vacation,” he adds.Rajeev Kale, President & CEO-MICE, Domestic & Sports Tourism,

Thomas Cook (India) Ltd., said, “The ‘Kotak Wealth Management Report’by Top of the Pyramid 2014 says that Ultra High Networth Individuals

(UHNIs) prefer travelling within India rather than visiting a foreign loca-tion. Now, the evolving traveller is showing strong demand for adrenalininfused adventure, wildlife safaris, cultural experiences and explorationof India’s vast culinary palette.”“We have witnessed the emergence of new traveller segments that

will propel our business and that of the travel & tourism industry: bothends of the consumer spectrum– Gen Y (youth) & Gen S (senior citizens);also the solo woman traveller and the student. In the past couple of years,we have noticed that engaging and exclusive experiences create impactful‘brag value’ and this is even more of an draw for luxury clients fromemerging non metro and tier-II markets,” he explained.Observing the hunger for travel for the UHNIs, Thomas Cook (India)

Ltd. has introduced innovative consumer-driven ‘Domestic Self Drive Hol-iday’ product that caters to this rapidly evolving segment.According to Kale, destinations like Himachal Pradesh, Leh-Ladakh,

Bhutan and the North East continue to be the preferred choices amongthe UHNI Indian travellers. Apart from these, destinations like Kashmir,Himachal Pradesh, Tibet, Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Gangtok, Uttarakhandand Rajasthan are capturing the interest of not only the luxury GEN Y butalso, MICE, ad-hoc groups of family and friends, women travellers, amongothers. Kerala has especially been gaining interest from inbound travellersconsidering it is a 12-month destination especially for senior.Explaining about the trends witnessed among today’s traveller, Sunil

Hasija, COO, Signature Tours by Creative Travel, said, “Travelling in smallgroups in search for an authentic and differentiated experience is whattoday’s traveller does. They seek more depth of understanding and im-mersion into local culture than ever before. Shopping is no more a ‘haveto do’ thing in their agenda. Instead of multiple destinations, they arenow willing to explore a single destination in its wholeness.”Hasija believes that travellers today are looking at service apartments

as preferred to hotels and value additions rather than pricing. “The shifthas come from price to value. The current trend is towards long haul des-tinations, premium and luxury escorted tours. Luxury travel today is de-fined less by thread count and Michelin stars and more by access to thepeople, places and experiences that represent all that is authentic abouta destination. There’s no denying that comfort factors still apply,” theCOO added.Mentioning about the niche tourism products that a traveller seek for,

Hasija said, “The right balance of local insight, independence and flexi-bility is what that is requested by the travellers nowadays. In regard tothe niche products, it is the wellness and spa holidays, newer/secludeddestinations and authentic experiences such as river cruise and charteringboats for small families. As a tour company, we are open and flexible towhat our clients want; they need to just mention it to us.”Seeing the responses of today’s travellers and travel companies, we

can say that awareness amongst the new age travellers is leading to ashift in the tourism market. Media exposure and marcom courtesy touroperators and tourism boards has created an undeniable allure by show-casing exotic locales and engaging experiences. The Indian traveller is get-ting increasingly savvy in converting long/extended weekends into quickholiday getaways, resulting in a boom in the short holiday trend. Today’straveller is aware and focused on what he/she wants; looking for an allround experience.

MAJOR TRENDS• Tour operators innovating new niche products focusing ondiverse culture and geographical placement• Destinations have started focusing on the potential products• Travellers have started exploring new places and focusedon what they desire

Rajeev Kale Karan Anand Sunil Hasija

Himanshi Sharma Ridhima Kapoor Chetan Raj Singh

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