India’s Desi tourists seek new thrills

A report from India says that India is going places, literallly and you have to read on to see what Indians have to say about their amazing outbound international travel market: –

With the country’s outbound tourist traffic slated to touch 16.2 million by 2011, the well-heeled desi lot seeking amazing, exotic vacations can no longer be counted on your finger tips.

So, while Cappadocia may not be familiar to many of us, the growing tribe of well-travelled Indians will tell you that it’s the name of a Turkish region with a cave hotel where you can ape the Flintstones.

Members of the same clan will also tell you that an ostrich egg omelette (ostrich meat is passe) is unbelievably bland and that Stewart Island Airways of New Zealand will weigh you along with your baggage before you are bundled into their little aircraft.

In the last 2-3 years, there has been a sharp rise in the number of those who have done the run-of-the-mill destinations and are seeking new travel thrills.

There were 6.2 million outbound tourists in 2005. “The indicators are only getting stronger by the day: the mushrooming of ‘special experience travel agents’, the new tourism offices opened by hitherto conservative countries like Poland, Ireland or the Netherlands in India in the last 2 years, and the travel road shows organised by Finland and New Zealand being just a few of them,’’ says Subhash Motwani of Compaq Travels, which organises tailor-made tours to exotic destinations.

“Last year, 600 Polish tourist visas were issued from India and the number will go up 30% this year. A few years back, the number was negligible,’’ says Polish consul general Januz Bylinski, attributing the spike in interest to the Hindi movie Fanaa which was shot there.

“A majority of Indian visitors are those on the central Europe tour, which includes the Czech Republic, Hungary, Austria and Poland. They spend an average of four days in Poland in its highland mountain areas and well-preserved historic cities like Cracow,’’ he says.

“Indian tourists in Turkey have increased threefold over the last 3 years. Before 2004, it was very unusual to see an Indian tourist here,’’ says Maggie Cassidy, a book shop owner in Goreme who is also involved with Shoestrings, a cave hotel in Cappadocia. The general profile of the typical Indian visitor that she paints is rather flattering.

They are, she says, more likely to be educated, professional, well-read, interested in culture and people than tourists of other nationalities. “But they are less able to cope with the occasional blip in arrangements. They seem to expect a higher level of service for their money. I think that’s maybe because of their relative lack of experience in travel and higher social status when compared to other tourists,’’ she says.

These seekers of exotic destinations have little in common with the sun-tanned backpackers with matted hair clutching their worn-out Lonely Planet Guides.

If anything, these trendsetters represent a hybrid variety—one which does not comprise intrepid, hard core travellers, but tourists who are game enough to rough it out, all in the name of adventure travel. “While online bookings are on the rise, most prefer hand-holding by tour operators, who besides selling airline tickets, also help in organising local sightseeing,’’ says Pradip Madhavji, former chairman of Thomas Cook.

Vispy Mistry, a city-based businessman who did the Spain-Portugal-Morocco circuit in May and who will be heading to Scotland in September, chalks out his itinerary in consultation with his travel agent.

The Mole comments – does anyone know what a desi tourist is?

A report by The Mole