Dear Travel Professional,

We recently launched our annual Art of Travel Brochure at ITB, Berlin. In its fifth edition now, the brochure features the best of what the Destination Knowledge Centre has explored over the past year along with recommendations of their favourite books, product ideas, stays they loved and much more, spread across forty pages in a unique design format coupled with bright colours. Ever evolving travel trends and client demands oblige us to innovate and differentiate products along various lines, whether it is indexing our tours on Sustainability or our conviction for CSR or our new Audio-Visual initiative - India Handheld - creating short films on Destination India and beyond. This edition of Art of Travel focuses on our evolving strategies of differentiation and show case products that echo this sentiment.

Do write to us for a copy.

See you soon.

Regards

Dipak Deva
Managing Director

Explorer-in-residence Kuntil Baruwa and our video editor Saurabh Rai just returned from a 2 weeks road trip shooting videos of the City Tours of North India. While on trip Kuntil ponders ‘Is how and from where your clients enter and end their visit of a historical monument important ?’

Here are his thoughts regarding the same for a monuments that we cover and another that we naively miss:

Fatehpur Sikri : We all know that our clients are taken on small CNG buses from the parking lot (or whatever that is with all the hawkers) to Fatehpur Sikri which used to be a town larger than London when it was originally constructed in the late 16th century. Probably a few know that there are 8 such buses ferrying our clients to and fro. But did you know that Fatehpur Sikri has two entrances – 1. The Diwan-e-Aam Gate (locally known as VIP Gate) 2. Jodha Bai Gate (named after Akbar’s Rajput wife) and that 4 buses are assigned to each gate. And through which gate should your clients enter and why? Your clients should enter through the Diwan-e-Aam Gate (locally known as VIP Gate) and exit through the Jodha Bai gate. Here’s why. The Diwan-e-Aam gate is through which the general public during the days of the Mughals would enter Fatehpur Sikri perhaps stopping at the imperial market before that whose ruins only remain today. But it is not difficult to imagine how colourful, busy and beautiful a market it must have been during the days of the yore. After spending time in the Diwan-e-Aam reserved for the general public and where the Mughal Emperor met them, we move to the royal quarters where I was blown away by the small yet stunning quarter of Akbar’s Turkish Sultana with its astonishing, gorgeous intricate work on sandstone. Ahead we are taken to the grand quarter of Akbar’s Hindu wife Jodha Bai with its jade roof tiles from Tibet which I thought was really special, unique and stands out in this massive red sandstone complex. This is where the tour ends. We then exit through the Jodha Bai Gate and board the bus to get back to the parking lot to proceed to Agra/Jaipur. Entering through the Diwan-e-Aam Gate (locally known as VIP Gate) and exiting through the Jodha Bai Gate is the right way to experience Fatehpur Sikri as the story progresses from the Aam (common) to the Khas (special). Should your clients enter from the Jodha Bai Gate and exit through the Diwan-e-Aam Gate (locally known as VIP Gate) – I have seen many foreigners with their guides doing that- the story progresses in the reverse from the Khas (special) to the Aam (common) and it is like entering someone’s house from the backyard.

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Here we are with a new section for you – Harry's Corner. Harpreet or Harry heads our procurement team and will be coming to you every month with relevant product updates. Read more

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