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Nina Varghese

Rock climbing, nature walks, boating, treks and even a bit of time travel is all the rage today, as tourists take to the road less travelled.

Rupa Ravi stared gloomily at the many colourful newspaper advertisements she had spread out in front of her. The ads from all the major tour operators talked about touring holidays in Europe, Far East and in the US. But she had been on two of these holidays and now wanted a holiday experience, which was different.

A feeling she shared with a large number of Indians who have travelled aboard either on work or on holiday. Says Anitha Pottamkulam, Director, TravelMark Solutions Pvt Ltd, "You won't believe the number of people who want a different experience on a holiday." Her company specialises in discovering these little offbeat places for inbound holidays. The average, well-heeled Indian is opting for these offbeat holidays these days. In fact, the demand far exceeds the rate at which TravelMark can find new places.

Rock climbing, nature walks, boating, treks and even a bit of time travel is all the rage these days, she says. The demand for these holidays cuts across age and professions. Recentlyshesenta group of people in their late 40s on a rock climbing trip and they came back thirsting for more.

Anitha specialises in lesser-known places, which are quite off the tourist map of India. One such place is a small resort near Courtallam where one can go rock climbing. Another place is Thenmalai, a real eco-paradise.

An interesting development is that the urban Indian is willing to go without some of his everyday luxuries on these holidays. A bit of time travel can be had at Thirumayyam where there is an old Ayyanar Temple. This is quite different from the traditional temple tours. The average package for two nights-three days comes to Rs 600 per person per day, and this includes breakfast and dinner.

However, the old and tried places are still attracting their share of visitors. The hill stations, the Golden Triangle and, of course, God's Own Country — Kerala.

Anitha says that Kerala has packages for every season — for summer, for monsoon and so on. This is a big draw with young professionals, senior management and even political bigwigs.

There is also an increased interest in the North East generated by the packages offered by Indian Airlines.

At the premium end of travel, the Taj Leisure Hotels have planned what they call, `fresh and exciting' holiday experiences for the individual and family vacationers. These initiatives, besides giving the guest five-star luxuries, as an add-on gives him an opportunity to explore local culture, experience the outdoors, different kinds of cuisine and also pamper the kids. Says Jamshed Daboo, Chief Operating Officer, Taj Leisure Hotels, "In these new initiatives we look forward to meeting the needs of every traveller, irrespective of age."

The last few years have seen the numbers of outbound leisure travellers swell. Added to this is the software revolution, which has given a large number of middle class and lower middle-class youth the taste of success, travel and adventure, points out a travel industry expert.

This year, SOTC, one of the leading tour operators in the country, has come out with a `Do-It-Yourself'' Holiday package branded Christopher Columbus. This package is designed to help the traveller discover the world at his or her own pace. The package gives you 501 holiday options across the world. You can design your own holiday and set your own pace under this scheme. This means that you don't have to be bundled along with the rest of the group, being given a miserly 30 or 45 minutes at a spot where you might want to spend a few hours.

"This would be ideal for a lone wolf like me," says 26-year-old Arun Menon. "Imagine being with a group of 20 people with whom you cannot get on, for a week at a stretch. In addition to this, I can stay on in a place that I like and move on when I don't," he adds.

The tour cost for Europe for 15 nights and 16 days, out of Mumbai, is $1,849 plus Rs 29,999 for airfare. If you take a companion, the airfare is free. . The cities on the itinerary are Zurich, Interlaken, Lucerne, Geneva, Paris, Amsterdam and London. The cost for a Far East 11 night-12 day tour is Rs 23,990 plus $649.

Among foreign destinations, Colombo, Singapore, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur remain hot favourites. For those who have a weakness for the Baila dance and the famous arrack, Colombo is a place to be in. Sri Lankan Airlines has some interesting packages for their beach hotels, the hill country and a combo. The basic package for three nights works out to $95 per person per day, with economy-class airfare (Chennai-Colombo-Chennai) coming to Rs 9,600. The deluxe package works out to $120 per person per day. Separate itineraries can be worked out to suit individual tastes at roughly the same rates.

The average spend for a three days/nights package for the Far East destinations is roughly Rs 30,000 including the airfare. Every summer a number of families — two adults and two children — head out from Chennai. Even though the city has its own beaches and beach resorts, Langkawi in Malaysia has become a popular destination, say tour operators.

Cruising has also caught the fancy of the Indian middle-class, though last year was not a good one for cruise operators because of SARS. Industry sources indicate that this year, a number of people opting for a cruise holiday would go up. The great disadvantage that the travel industry faces is that the cruise ships do not dock in any Indian port. There is a demand for cruises ex-Chennai to Colombo, say industry sources.

Though the number of Indians travelling to Australia declined by two per cent over the previous year, mainly due to the threat of SARS, the Australian Tourist Commission sees the Indian market as one of great potential. The numbers are yet to pick up, mainly due to the long distance and lack of connections from key cities. The interest in Down Under and in New Zealand is also very high thanks to the many Hindi movies filmed there.

Picture by R. M. Rajarathinam

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