Is it remote enough?

Mainstream doesn’t cut it anymore. How much it costs doesn’t matter. They don’t care if everyone is doing it. All they ask is, ‘Is it unique and isolated?’

Mature travelers are not only seeking experiences, but they have already started to discriminate between experiences in favour of the ones that are off the beaten track, difficult to find, never-heard-of places and things to do. In short, something that doesn’t come in the top 10 Google search. This in turn is prompting operators to look hard for products and activities that not many in their market are offering, or even know of.

Taking a dive in El Nido, The Philippines 

An unfortunate turn this new wave is taking is that social media influencers are being trolled for showcasing ‘secret haunts’ online for fear that these dearly-loved spots of locals will see a stampede of such travelers looking for Instagram-worthy places. Fortunately, such incidents are rare and lie on one end of the spectrum. But they indicate the growing demand for places that are not crawling with tourists – a trend that is slowly being defined as luxury. 

The truth is that by and large, travelers have become explorers and discoverers. They don’t want to merely travel. Whether it is just being part of a sustainable environment or wanting to race on an F1 track onboard a cruise liner in the middle of the ocean, it is the experience that matters – not so much the cost or the destination and definitely not its popularity.

The India market is slowly moving towards this trend but there is still a large percentage of Indians who continue to enjoy their annual holiday in Thailand or Dubai. These numbers are surprisingly high. But in a way it balances the scale and allows the others to pursue their dream holidays, except that this niche of travelers doesn’t want to ‘lose themselves’ or ‘escape life’. They want to experience everything and come alive to every new moment they witness.