DesiTraveller

  The last few months have seen sufficient reportage about the impact of climate change and heavy rains in many parts of India, especially the hilly areas, with huge loss of life, limb and property. The impact on tourism, especially for hill tourism that depends a lot on road connectivity, is not fully understood as yet - but it certainly has some fallout on travel within, to and from these hill tourism locations. At the same time, domestic tourism is not going to simply abandon parts of the country which suffer the burden of climate change more than others, it is just that we shall as tourists need to make our own decisions and take our own judgement calls on where and when to go and how. Travel is education, and education will need to continue, especially pilgrimage. To start with, the first rule that I have started following over the last few decades, is to use local transport for local movements. Even assuming that self-drive till destination has been the mode of transport, the...

  At the oldest and newest and best bespoke 5 star hotels in India, the word is out - the era of the wealthy Indian tourist in India is truly here. Just about a week ago, I was staying at the best hotel in Kolkata, not one of the new pretenders or the old relics, but one with lineage as well as class, not to mention style. The breakfast buffet is amongst the most opulent I have seen, and they also have, in addition, a separate card for South Indian filter coffees and yet another card for freshly cooked Indian breakfasts from different parts of the country. And yes, Eggs Benedict, with double proper pork ham is what I found on the card too. The evening before, we were parked at their bar, exercising our elbows. And there also, the finger foods served were from the best of Indian options, with a huge range of Indian origin spirits and beverages. Unlike in the past, when I had stayed at this grand old hotel, however - there was one huge change. There were no foreigners in the bar and ...

  People in the trade are already talking about a surge of inbound tourism to India this winter of 2022/2023. The impending fuel shortage in Europe as well as rising inflation makes it not just cold but also unhealthy to hang around there. Likewise, there is the expected rush of ex-pat Indians from abroad, whether NRI, OCI or foreign born confused desis, running away from the recession that is staring them in the face. They too will arrive on Indian shores. Whether long-stay or short, foreigners or OCIs or NRIs, all of them will need some amount of tourism facilities. From fancy expensive hotels in Metro cities to home-stays in rural parts of the country. And for once, we appear to be ready as a country, for this influx. Today, for example, we have international gateway airports in India that provide direct bus services to the interior parts of India, Delhi to Punjab, Bengaluru to everywhere in Karnataka, Hyderabad to different parts of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh are some example...

Simple fact - in context with tourists from any country in the world - very few, if any, will admit to having been made a monkey of on an expensive trip to another country. This is a universal truth, and the reasons are not far to see - most do not know anything about the destination unless they have really researched the destination. In our context, whether inbound or outbound India, especially after paying out big fat visa fees. And if they have researched the destination well, then they will certainly have steered clear of all the relevant tourist traps, something many of us learnt early in life. For example, take coastal beach tourist towns anywhere in the world, and start from the restaurants which are right on the beach. Broadly, these can be defined as "greedy row", where everything is over-charged or watered-down or both. On the second street from the beach-front are usually the back-ends of the restaurants on the beach-facing row. Prices may be lower, but then also b...