Experiential travelling has never looked this appealing, as the millennials focus on culture and community rather than splurge on luxury.City Express takes a look at the travelling trends that has this generation hooked and also interacts with a few travellers from the city
CHENNAI: Gone are the days of family trips and splurge-fests/weekend getaways to exotic beaches! Young travel aficionados are now yearning to explore culture and immerse themselves in traditions and cultural attributes of a place. Welcome to the world of the millennials, where ‘experiential travel’ is the buzzword and shoe-string budgets rule the roost.
Eschewing conventional modes of travel and accommodation, Gen Y prefers to mix with the crowd rather than view travel as an exclusive affair. Says Arun Sekharan, an IT professional from the city and occasional backpacker, “A lot of people are looking to cut down on their budgets. I prefer to travel by train rather than flight. This is because I believe the journey is part of the experience, not just the sightseeing.”
Hari Ganapathy, co-founder of Pick Your Trail, which offers customised itineraries to travel abroad, agrees with the shift in the concept of travel. “People are not just exploring places, but rather, they are starting to plan their travel around events,” he says.
“Earlier, people used to travel depending on the season – now they plan vacations around Coldplay concerts! There are also a lot more people planning impromptu, short trips.”
Cashing in on this trend, Pick Your Trail offers a unique platform where they gauge a person’s preferences and customise their trail according to it. “Depending on the kind of activities you do, a real-time itinerary is created based on your personality; it helps you engage with the community wherever you go.”
For instance, how about a personalised tour of the Ferrari factory, or maybe an exclusive wine-tasting experience in Italy?
Closer home, the emphasis on experiential travel is greater with more people waking up to the concept of heritage and culture. “Travelling earlier used to be a hop-skip-jump affair – we used to go one place, spend a day there and move on to the next,” explains Rajith Nair, founder of Travelling Gecko.
“Foreigners are ahead of the experiential curve, because they are naturally curious to know the history and customs of a place.”
Travelling Gecko organises exclusive trails in Tamil Nadu and Kerala where the emphasis is on stories, food, and culture of the people in the region. “We have a trail called Along the River Cauvery, where travellers are taken along the river’s length to Thiruvaiyaru in Thanjavur district known for the Thyagaraja Samadhi,” explains Rajith. “We tell them how the river has influenced the customs and traditions of the people living on its banks. We let them spend time with the local families, maybe have a meal or two, and even interact with the traditional silk weavers in the area to know how their culture is tied in with their profession.”
All this not only benefits the traveller, who goes back wiser, but also the communities themselves. “This shift in an immersive travel experience can also reflect in the way millenials travel,” adds Shyam Padmanabhan, regional coordinator for an experiential travel startup that will go public in January. “The concept of homestays helps foster interaction between the host, who is part of the community, and the traveller. Earlier people opted for resorts, now they look to share rooms in youth hostels.”
The concept of youth hostels is what made Zostel, India’s first chain of branded hostels, a fad among the youth. “You can stay in a dorm or in a shared room with backpackers, which was unheard of until recently. Now, you meet other people and explore the community at your pace.”
Airbnb, which has recently made inroads into the Indian market, has been the global pioneer in connecting travellers and backpackers with cheap affordable accommodation. But what about the way millennials choose their travel plans? “I no longer take a package tour,” adds Anju Junu, who recently returned from a solo trip to Rajasthan. “There are so many options you get from the most unlikely of places. For example, I chose Rajasthan after checking out the Instagram page of Jaipur Diaries, and then did my research. Apart from checking for rooms on Zostel and Airbnb, I didn’t plan anything!”
Well, whether it’s the journey or the destination, this generation seems to be going places!