In the Nepali village of Dhampus, a shawl vendor once stopped Maria D’Souza and asked her to take his photograph. As she lifted the camera, he called out to his wife and said, “Agar hum duniya nahi dekh sakte to kya hua, duniya to hume dekh sakti hai. (Even if we may never get to see the world, the world can still see us).”
That sentence stayed with Maria long after she returned home. Travel, she realised, did not have to revolve around monuments, tourist spots, or postcard moments. It could become a bridge between travellers and communities.
The idea slowly evolved into Make It Happen, an experiential travel company that curates community-led travel across India. “We wanted to create travel experiences that benefit the local communities,” Maria says, “We believe people remember stories far more than facts.”
Experiential travel is not defined by how remote a place is. It is defined by the depth of engagement you create with the place, its people, culture, and stories
A walk through Goa’s Fontainhas, for instance, is not just a guided explanation of Portuguese-era architecture. Travellers move through the Latin quarters listening to stories about migration, family histories, and neighbourhoods. Working with 100 local collaborators, including bakers, fishermen, musicians, artists, and storytellers, visitors often encounter places through the people who live there. “Outside Goa, we have worked with the Toda community and Kurumba community in the Nilgiris, engaging with their traditions, indigenous knowledge systems, art, and cultural practices,” Maria says.
The major concern for Maria and her husband, Murali Shankaran, who is also her business partner, is to maintain the dignity of the communities they engage with. “We are very conscious that the community should never feel ‘displayed’ for tourism.” The company consciously avoids large-scale, intrusive tourism. “Sometimes responsible tourism is also about recognising when not to intervene,” Maria says.
Much of the work begins with simply spending time on the ground, identifying people deeply connected to local histories and traditions. For this, the company also trains people, teaching them storytelling, audience engagement, heritage interpretation, and responsible tourism practices. “Nearly 50–55 per cent of the company’s revenue flows directly back into the community,” She adds. Since 2015, the organisation has hosted more than 65,000 travellers.
Maria is aware that “experiential travel” has become an overused phrase in tourism marketing. But she believes most people misunderstand what it actually means. “Experiential travel is not defined by how remote a place is. It is defined by the depth of engagement you create with the place, its people, culture, and stories.”
The philosophy also explains why most of the experiences are intentionally affordable, typically priced between Rs 1,000 and Rs 5,000, and designed for solo travellers, students, families, and mixed groups. For Maria, the larger goal is not to create a premium version of tourism, but to change what people expect from travel itself.
“The storyteller, the baker, the musician, the artist, the local host,” she says, “they are not add-ons to tourism. They are the experience itself,” she smiles.