Experiential tourism is booming in the India of many cultures

Glancing through travel content on social media, there is a distinct focus on showcasing the offbeat and singular. The appetite for experiential tourism among Indians is growing, as is the variety of niche, immersive and special-interest experiences on offer around the country. There are tours that blend fragrance and flavour, glamping (glamorous camping) retreats, textile heritage trails, haunted walks, volunteering at wildlife conservation centres, historical event trails, or music tours with folk musicians.

Pranav Kapoor, eighth-generation perfumer, chef and founder of gourmet perfumery Indian Naturals, launched perfume tourism in Kannauj in March this year to showcase the rich history of his family and town in crafting scents for global and domestic brands and consumers. “Travellers are looking for immersive experiences. There are several experiential tours on offer in India now, but a lot more must be developed,” says Kapoor. Visitors can stay at the courtyard suite of his home in Kannauj—an ancestral haveli, visit the flower farm, see the distillery and the traditional distillation process which relies on human skill and intuition, create their own fragrance at the perfume bar, and tour the town’s historical ruins and monuments. “We’ve had an overwhelming response. Our visitors enjoy staying with a perfumer family and the personalised interaction it entails.”

The American Express Travel 2023 Global trends report shows 94% of Indian respondents wanting to travel to a lesser-known destination and 95% to a destination off the beaten path. The pandemic appears to have spurred an increased interest not only in domestic travel but also in exploratory and purposeful trips.

“Post-Covid, people want to do something meaningful on a holiday and not just be tourists. They want to get involved and take back an experience and memories that are a conversation piece,” says Kartick Satyanarayan, CEO and co-founder of Wildlife SOS, a conservation organisation that rescues and rehabilitates wildlife in distress. Their Mathura elephant rehabilitation centre and bear rescue centres in Agra and Bengaluru are open for 90-minute educational tours and for “working holidays”, where volunteers get a homestay experience at the 16-bedroom volunteer home and learn about tourism and entertainment’s negative impact on wildlife. The resident elephants and bears are rescues from long-term abuse through visitor rides, street begging and entertainment. Visitors learn about ethical tourism, work alongside the staff in caring for the animals, enjoy freshly prepared meals from the centre’s organic farm, visit the elephant memorial in tribute to those who lost their lives through human abuse, and sometimes tag along for a rescue. “People are always moved by the experience and say that they would never ride an elephant again or participate in creating this problem,” says Satyanarayan.

Many of these special-interest tours are curated and led by professionals who have personal experience and deep expertise in the subject. Shilpa Sharma’s prolific career in craft and textiles, including her time with FabIndia and co-founding arts and crafts e-commerce brand Jaypore, led her to curate immersive textile trails. Her travel company, Breakaway, organises workshops and community interaction-based tours across India with visits to expert craftspeople, viewing of private collections, and craft and textile residencies. “I’ve met many interesting people throughout my career and witnessed an interest in and appreciation of our handmade textiles. I saw an opportunity to offer a nuanced experience around this,” says Sharma. Catering to a domestic and international clientele including solo travellers, designers, academics and all-women groups, the trails span the country, spotlighting artisans weaving Khesh fabric from upcycled old saris in Shanti Niketan, natural-dyed cotton yarn being decorated with special motifs symbolising the wearer’s tribe in Odisha, or elephant poo paper-making in Rajasthan.

“There is an increasing demand from visitors who don’t want to just see palaces and monuments, but want to dig deeper into the culture, food and people,” says Ashutosh Sharma, co-founder of independent music label Amarrass Records. During field recordings with musicians, they observed that the musicians’ earnings dwindled as they grew older and were unable to travel for performances. Amarrass began informal tours a few years ago, taking interested guests to visit musicians’ homes in the villages, attend music sessions, and have a meal with them, like a reverse baithak, to gain context about where this music originates.

They officially launched a ‘music in the hills’ tour in February 2023 with the qawwali group Rehmat e-Nusrat led by one of the members, Sarvjeet Tamta, who is also an expert in Kumaoni culture, food and history. The three-day trip near Bhimtal includes qawwali, Kumaoni, Garwali and Nepali music sessions. “You eat organic local food, listen to some amazing music, interact with and have a meal cooked by the musicians, trek to Parital, and maybe even attend a flute workshop. It’s a trip for all five senses,” says Sharma, adding that their ‘music in the desert’ tour launches in November 2023.

Visitors enjoy the personal interactions and attention to detail in these immersive experiences. Kapoor’s tour blends his expertise as a chef and perfumer. “My family has been perfumers for 200 years and along with fragrance, I wanted to add flavour to the experience.” The fragrance and flavour of the season—vetiver, rose or jasmine—is threaded through a personalised seven-course menu. Kapoor intends to expand to perfume trails across India and hopes to encourage other Kannauj perfumers to engage in perfume tourism and elevate the town as a visitor destination with a rich history.

Sustainability and sensitivity are intrinsic to experiential tourism. Sharma champions several artisans and designers focused on sustainability in her tours and workshops, like those working on climate-resistant fashion or recycling leftover fabric. Visitors to Wildlife SOS’s centres can see the organisation’s efforts to help the former captors of these animals with alternate income sources—the centre’s souvenir shop stocks products made by many of them. As the animals have had traumatic pasts, visitors observe but do not pet or disturb them. “These animals now help educate and inspire people to learn and prevent this from happening to others,” says Satyanarayan.

Amarrass’s Sharma agrees that awareness and knowledge are instrumental to sustainability efforts. “When visitors interact with the locals and understand their culture, local issues and lifestyle, it increases their awareness, which adds values and ideas to making things more sustainable.”

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