The world is still trying to defeat a novel virus, India too has been affected by a big chunk of the Coronavirus(also China), making each individual and business working towards and preparing for a world where Coronavirus is the in-disease. The travel industry is definitely facing a hard time considering the fact that a person is not even allowed to roam around their houses at specific times.
Being a travel startup that is still trying to make its way in the already highly competitive industry, we have had to realize that conventional methods of providing “safe generic packages” are not going to work.
Our aim has always been to revamp the entire travel industry, not just making a name for ourselves but creating such an impact so as to overhaul the whole travel experience by giving the traveler a complete control over their journey, and this situation might be a blessing in disguise that we needed.
To be honest, this setting has made us blow our heads off as well, after all, travel startups or small or medium-sized businesses that were dependent on everyday trips in order to survive have no option but to either close shop or wait out the pandemic. But since we are always thinking of novel ways to change travel, we did come up with a way to make post-Coronavirus travel hassle-free and as safe as staying at home.
By taking out multiple surveys and polls regarding the concern over traveling, the first and foremost concern was definitely a no-brainer, safety. Now, there are hundreds of companies offering this safe resort in a less afflicted state or city, which is really nice to start with but it lacks the innovation we require in the 21st-century and the fact that just by advertising the destination is safe, a concerned traveler is not going to be convinced. Our approach towards a safe-travel experience with keeping the social distancing norms intact is a bit unorthodox.
While we obviously plan to have the new essentials sanitizers, masks, gloves, and symptom check during every experience, we’ll go above and beyond with sanitizing the accommodation and transportation before the start of the trip for every traveler, in their presence. Since that is even something which will become a new normal, we plan to change the definition of transportation by introducing our signature experience, the Caravan experience.
Recreational vehicles(RVs) or Caravans are basically motorhomes that are like cars on steroids. A Caravan has a kitchen, a washroom, and the seating arrangement doubles up as beds. We’ve been working to bring the Caravan experience in India for more than a year now and have managed to understand the ins and outs of how it could work in India. By keeping this Caravan vehicle Corona-free, we ensure that the entire band of travelers stay safe during the journey. This ensures no contact with the outside world while going to off-beat safe locations.
Getting safe, habitable transportation is one thing but we’ll still need to identify safe and trusted places for our travelers that might not want to spend a lot of days in a Caravan or would want to opt for another safe option of road trips. This is where our vision of cultural immersion and providing unexplored off-beat locations to our travelers solves the conundrum. We have hand-picked unknown destinations, abandoned villages that are now flourishing with reverse migration & untouched by Coronavirus, and even a few famous places that have seen no cases for a long time now. These places not only provide a never seen before experience but a secure one too.
By creating specific “travel bubbles” where a traveler from a specific state or city can travel to places only in that safe bubble, we reduce the likelihood of a traveler being infected. Our upcoming AI-based software that builds an itinerary based on a few answers by a user and offers one-click booking for the same will make sure that each traveler is able to book such a travel safe location only.
Travel is all about experiencing different realities, and to do so, a traveler will need to visit the unique locations of a destination and try out the activities there. Our innovative solution to this predicament is to have slot bookings of such activities and places where only a limited number of travelers are at this place to keep the social distancing norm at such formerly crowded places.
The need for digital or touchless travel will push a lot of travel companies to push towards incorporating technology even more in the industry. Being a tech-travel startup our focus has been on making a touchless experience by making basic formalities like check-ins, check-outs, payments, etc. completely digital through a dedicated application.
Even if we or the travel industry is able to make safe travel experiences amidst this pandemic possible, the main concern will be convincing a traveler about their legitimacy of being as safe as portrayed, the fear of coronavirus has gripped our brains deeper than the actual effect of it. Changing this mindset and making them believe that traveling will be safe again will be the greater challenge. For this, the focus of travel companies should shift towards providing an end-to-end, seamless customer experience.
Travel and tourism services have definitely taken a huge hit due to this pandemic but every industry needs to adapt. Being a growing traveling startup, our aim has always been to revamp the travel industry and make a dent in the industry to overhaul how people look at traveling. This situation has definitely been tough for us, every day the team is trying to find new ways to survive and see through this pandemic to come out stronger than ever. Traveling will never be the same, be it in a good way or bad, every company will have to go a major makeover. Fear of catching the virus, safety against the virus, locations unaffected, and a new way to travel will be the crux of how the revamped travel experience will look like.
Related: Which Asian countries will benefit from the China tourism boom?
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