TravTalk India Online Magazine
Adventure tourism in India has been witnessing a surge with woman entrepreneurs driving the growth. Jasmine Duggal, Director, Minar Group, shares her experience as a woman adventure travel guide/ operator and discusses the increasing popularity of female-centric travel.
Janice Alyosius
Adventure tourism in India is on the rise, and woman entrepreneurs are playing a critical role in driving the growth. The sector is projected to grow rapidly in the coming years with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20.1 per cent. Minar Group, a travel and tourism company that has been in the industry for three decades, is helping travellers explore India’s hidden gems in the most comfortable and luxurious way possible. Their team of over 200 professionals is a mix of young innovative minds and experienced professionals, committed to quality and smart work, providing an unconventional experience of India, shared Jasmine Duggal, Director, Minar Group.
“Our legacy encompasses airline representation, ground handling, destination representation, and service operations across corporate, retail, luxury, celebrity, charters, executive jets & cargo; in other words, helping travellers explore India’s hidden gems in the most comfortable & luxurious way possible,” she added.
Sharing her experience as a woman adventure travel guide/ operator, Duggal said, “Being a women’s adventure travel guide/ operator is becoming increasingly popular, driven by the trend of experiential and adventure-based travel, which is being driven by women around the world. These tours offer the opportunity for participants to engage with women from cultures vastly different from their own, providing a unique and valuable experience.”
She added, “In the context of women-led tours originating in and from India, these experiences offer a behind-the-scene glimpse into the lives and work of local women in societies that may be vastly different from the participants’ own. These tours are more intricate and nuanced than the ‘girlfriend getaways’ of the early 2000s, as they combine cultural immersion with adventure-based activities. The high demand for female-centric travel is evident in the popularity of these tours. While I can only speak for my tours, we are finding that our guests offer a unique opportunity to connect with like-minded women from around the world while exploring new cultures and adventure-based activities. It’s sisterhood!”
When asked if being a woman in travel has comforted other women on their trips, Duggal said, “I believe it’s just ‘More Venus, Less Mars’! Recently, we operated, executed and delivered an all-women’s trip from the Middle East. The response to this trip has been phenomenal! Imagine, how exciting it was to give women access to places they could not go to on mixed trips, noting that many places and activities in the Middle East are segregated by gender. Most new-gen women like the small-group curated experience. Perhaps, men do not seem to be as proactive in booking experiential travel in far-flung places.”
To envisage growth of women entrepreneurs and guides, Duggal said, “At ATOAI Women’s Collective, we want to set a goal to double the number of female tour leaders India employs year after year. It’s a bold aspiration, particularly in countries such as India where being a tour guide is not a usual career path for women. One leap at a time and we will be there soon.”
