The Pioneer group is expanding its umbrella of connecting with thinking minds through live talks. Called The Pioneer Agenda series, we hope to generate awareness on ideas that will shape India in 2030 and could be a template for policy-making. The first such dialogue, Exotica Tourism Summit, Exotica being the group's travel and wellness magazine, was held at Shangri-La hotel, New Delhi on February 26. Since tourism is poised to become a major growth driver and employment generator of the economy, the day-long event had interactive sessions with Union Ministers, industry experts, travel operators, tourism boards, the hospitality sector and brand creators
How do we expand the bouquet of tourism experiences to inspire the traveller to keep coming back? How do we reintroduce favourites and invest them with contemporary sensibilities? How do we customise tours to make new memories? How has theme travel changed the way we live and think? These were some of the questions that were answered by panellists Aman Nath, Shilpa Sharma, Sumitra Senapaty, Anup Kutty and Samil Malhotra at the last session of the Exotica Tourism Summit.
Don’t let history become a bygone
Hotelier, architectural restorer and writer Aman Nath is the co-founder and co-chairman of the Neemrana Hotels chain, along with Francis Wacziarg. Both are today credited for pioneering the heritage hotels movement in India, which they started in 1991. Since then, the Neemrana group has acquired 30 heritage properties and converted them into heritage hotels after restoration, particularly developing unknown properties in Rajasthan and breaking stereotypes.
He said, “We have 30 properties in 18 states of India. We started by looking at restoring historical properties which held stories about the glorious past of India. The architecture in every state varies just like food. The idea was to make a new blend of restoration, rebuilding and revitalisation of ruined architectural wonders and offer unique accommodation options. It was to turn utter waste into mainstream assets, which nobody looked at and which could contribute to society. The term jungle mein mangal actually holds true in that you can actually create a habitat in the wilderness. Neemranification means that you restore a place and you also use it in a way that it perpetuates itself. What you know as the Neemrana Fort Palace Delhi-Jaipur highway is actually a 15th century heritage hotel. We have a historic 700-year-old property as the Hill Fort, Kesroli in Alwar. All efforts have been made to maintain the old charm of the fort while ensuring basic comforts that have come to be associated with the changes in lifestyle since the 14th century. Then we have the Bungalow on the Beach in Tranquebar, Tamil Nadu. When we started doing this project, the Government said how dare you build a property so close to the sea? We told them, it was there since the 17th century. It was actually restored one day before the tsunami. The waves crashed the walls and went over the whole building but nothing happened to it. It stayed intact because it was a hundred years old and solidly built.”
Aman summed up by saying that when you see ruins like these, you don’t have the courage to attempt a new construction. “What we actually did was restoration-for-reuse,” he said.
Let the sea set you free
Samil Malhotra, head of sales at TIRUN, brings 33 years of experience during which he has worked across various sectors with established brands. As the exclusive India representative for Royal Caribbean Cruises, a global cruiseliner with four cruise brands — Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, Azamara Club Cruises and Silversea Cruises — he highlighted how voyages have made slow travel fashionable again.
He said, “Today, Antarctica is the new Alaska. So in 2020, if you think you can take a cruise, you could go to Antarctica. There are so many misconceptions and myths about cruising. The very first is that cruises are expensive. People tend to think it’s too crowded, too confining or too boring. But that’s hardly the reality of modern-day vessels. There are so many arguments favouring why you should not go cruising rather than why you should. The word “cruise” in itself personifies what it does. A ship can go at 40 knots but it chooses to go at 10 knots. It’s because it lets you enjoy the sea. If you would like to have a relaxing holiday, if you don’t want to pack and repack, if you want to get up in a new country everyday and have 30 restaurants to eat, a casino to gamble in, a health club and spa to enjoy and immerse yourself in, watch Broadway musicals and shows at night, listen to Bob Marley and Bob Dylan during the day, you should be taking a cruise.”
Samil concluded his talk by saying, “To demystify all this, Royal Caribbean Cruises sells at approximately Rs 10,000 per person, per night. So if you take a three night package, you are just spending Rs 30,000. And you are getting everything — stay, food, alcoholic beverages (at times), entertainment, shore excursions and so on in comparison to a hotel, where just your breakfast is included. When I tell people the rates, they are just shocked. If you haven’t seen the cruise, you haven’t seen the world.”
The buzzword is solo travel
Sumitra Senapaty, known as a women’s travel expert, has logged thousands of miles around the world as a wanderer, culminating with the creation of the WOW Club travel and social platform for women 15 years ago. This has developed into an active community for women. Sumitra believes that travel brings along a sense of empowerment and a feeling of personal freedom. The WOW community also meets up for a number of social events organised exclusively for women by the club — like heritage walks, wine tastings, lunches and movie evenings as well. Sumitra has just returned from Antarctica, her second time to this part of the world.
She said, “It was a dream that I had 15 summers ago. I really wanted women to be independent and empowered. I talked to a lot of people and realised that women were more interested in travelling and adventure and a passion that brings all this alive. There are times in life when you are over with your friends, relatives and colleagues. You want to go beyond that and have a different social circle. So how do you make friends later in life? One way is travel. It gives you me-time, makes you independent and you feel empowered. It gives you an opportunity to talk to other people, locals of various countries and other states in India. It gives you time to think on your feet, to act for yourself, too. Well, I give them the opportunity for solo travel. It’s so comforting because being in a group gives you a sense of safety. We do 150 trips every year over 52 destinations. These destinations range from Rishikesh to Antartika and beyond. Future plans include the Arctic circle, Greenland and Falkland islands. The change has come for sure. Initially, when I started out, there were women who called me and said ‘wow it’s such a lovely concept! But we will get back to you after the weekend. I would like to discuss it with my family and see what happens’. Invariably, they never got back because their family said why are you going with them? Why not with us? However, later, women did come back. And how.”
Beyond the brochure
Since 2011, Shilpa Sharma, founder of Breakaway Travels, has been curating and executing bespoke, beyond-the-brochure experiential journeys around India for solo travellers. Her trips are immersions in crafts, textiles, culinary and social enterprise interactions. She co-founded Jaypore, an online retail portal for Indian handmade and high on design products and is constantly travelling to find the next experiential to curate.
She wanted to do something for her own, something that hadn’t been done by anyone. Said Shilpa, “In 2011, when I set up the company, the whole idea was to find parts of the country through travel experiences. There was a lot happening in the mainstream tourism space. People were going to Goa, Mumbai, Kerala but I wanted to present a beyond-the-brochure approach to India. I wanted to have a representation of interactions centred around crafts and textiles because that’s where I have spent 12 years of my career. I have travelled the length and breadth of the country and realised that all the beautiful products come from India. There’s an opportunity to actually travel into some of the far flung clusters, communities and interact with them at their hometowns. In those interactions you also get to experience them, their culture, food and just every aspect of their lifestyle. I feel food is our identity. Through my travels, I have figured, regional cuisine in our country is severely underrated. This is also one of the reasons which led to my third venture — a restaurant called Mustard in Goa and Mumbai.”
Shilpa added that she is now working to explore another facet of Kutch. It is associated with textiles and crafts and the great Rann of Kutch but the truth is that it is also about extinct volcanoes, rock formations, dinosaurs and fossils. “Nobody talks about these things. There is a Rajasthan that everybody knows and then there is a Rajasthan that nobody knows.” For her, it’s all about finding that needle in a haystack.
To NorthEast, with love
Former journalist and musician Anup Kutty, made the rice fields of Ziro in Arunachal Pradesh a must-stop simply by hosting a music festival there. Now in its ninth year, he has pioneered the idea of a musical quest in the Northeast, one which adds to the felt experience.
Said he, “My love story with the Northeast is just 10 years old. I am a musician, so my band was touring the Northeast in 2011. One of the promoters was from Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh. We had a show there. Unfortunately, there was some political unrest and the show got postponed. The promoter suggested, ‘Why don’t you just come to my hometown, Ziro Valley, and relax?’ We saw the place, met beautiful people and had great food. Over a couple of rice beers, we discussed how we should invite some more artistes and do a show here. Even after moving back to Delhi, the idea stuck in our heads. So we decided to do it. Our first edition was a huge mess because there were torrential rains for two days. But on the day of the fest, sun showed up, everybody landed and the show happened. That was 10 years ago. Now we have 6,000 people coming from across the world. It’s like a wedding that happens in the village, where everybody comes together and puts in his/her best efforts. The locals open up their homes for visitors. When we started, we had couple of home stays. But now, pretty much every home is open for us. The local economy has perked up too.”
