Tourism is an evergreen industry and people of late have started venturing out more than ever. In a country like India with its mighty mountains, beautiful forests and valleys there are plenty of variety even to the most hardened person. All this natural beauty and spiritual places to visit; Indian tourism has to take note of tourism trends and move in tune with the changing times.

Travelers these days have all the information required and they often research the place before actually visiting it. Tourism industry has to keep pace with the informed traveler by fulfilling all the hype and promises made in their glossy websites. Service has to be impeccable to ensure survival.

So what’s trending?

People are going off the beaten tracks and learning to explore the country with an aim to understand local flavor. Luxury hotels jostle with hostel kind of accommodation to cater to the budget conscious customer. Home-stays allow the traveler to actually live with a local family eat their food and generally experience a different way of life. This is a marked trend from staying in luxury hotels and generally looking at our country from a different view point.

Boutique hotels are also a growing trend to cater to the  rich. These are state supported hotels like palace hotels and usually provide luxury dwellings.

Adventure sports offering in the tourism industry has shown a marked increase. From kite flying in Rajasthan to paragliding to trekking and mountaineering, river rafting etc professionals offer the travelers a good time.

Nowadays new trends like customized tours, food walks, cooking tours, village stays and adventure camps are gaining popularity. This allows us to showcase our amazing culinary tradition to the world. Worldwide wine tasting and food trails are common. Of late large vineyards in India also offer wine tasting.

The local people put on culture shows and offer their handicraft for sale in hotels giving the travelers a chance to interact with them. Culture tours are fast gaining popularity.

Another trend is medical tourism. Many tourists are travelling to our country as medical care is of high standards. This holds true for allopathic and ayurvedas as well.People are opting for wellness packages to heal themselves in our traditional medicine systems and while they are here they tend to visit nearby areas as well.

Nowadays the Indians running tourism sites have in turn travelled abroad and learnt the tricks of trade from them.

Infrastructure improvement by state Government and central government has made the travel industry much more attractive to foreign and domestic traveler. But sometimes safety of foreign travelers is also seen as an issue. We need to work on this area in order to make people feel safe. If we can erase such fears of visiting foreigners by our strict vigilance the market will improve dramatically