A high-end boutique property, Te Aroha, nestled in the mountains of Dhanachuli in Uttarakhand promises to turn your holiday into a romantic fairytale during the monsoon season. Udaivilas, an award-winning property of The Oberoi Group, is selling monsoon yoga packages. Similarly, Gujarat Tourism organised road shows recently to promote its month-long ?Saputara Monsoon Festival?, which started on July 30, promoting Saputara as a monsoon destination. Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation and Kerala Tourism Development Corporation are also aggressively marketing themselves as ideal monsoon destinations. Interestingly, Goa Tourism Development Corporation has branded its monsoon packages as ?Raindrop Tourism?. And yes, if you call your travel agent, he too will offer you some monsoon holiday packages.
Monsoon is traditionally a lean season for travel and it?s the season when it rains discounts and travel offers. But plain vanilla discounts, a norm during the lean months of July and August, are passe. It?s the rain experience that?s ruling the roost this year. The owner of Te Aroha, Sumant Batra, says, ?People avoid mountains during monsoon, but with our romantic monsoon package we want to sell the experience of staying amidst lush green forests, flowers, butterflies and the scenic beauty that is very peculiar to this season. Of course, they cannot go trekking, but we have a well-stocked library and the hotel has a lot to offer to keep our guests engaged.? Te Aroha is selling a monsoon package wherein you can book a room for two nights and get the third night free. The room rate at the property ranges between R10,000 and R13,000. Batra says his property is sold out during long weekends in August.
Top hotel chains, too, are marketing innovative monsoon travel products. The Oberoi Udailvilas in Udaipur is offering a three-day Monsoon Yoga Programme, complete with yoga, meditation and ayurvedic treatment. The average cost of the package is about R18,300 per person. Taj Hotels also has ?3 for 2? monsoon offer for its properties in Jodhpur, wherein the third night is free.
It?s not only hotel players, but even state tourism boards have jumped on the monsoon bandwagon. If Gujarat Tourism has designed 1-4 day monsoon package to Saputura complete with activities like water sports and food festivals, MTDC has geared up to accommodate more people during weekends at its resorts during monsoon. Similarly, Orissa tourism, too, is marketing the rain experience and offering travel packages, taking a cue from other state tourism boards, which traditionally play up the monsoon tourism card.
A recent FICCI-Yes Bank study on how to make India a 365-day tourism destination suggests strategic marketing of alternative tourism products such as medical tourism, tribal tourism, caravan tourism and medical tourism. It also says that Goa should market monsoon tourism strategically and aggressively. In fact, Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC) is already offering monsoon packages. The beach-bumming packages valid from June to September target couples and families. ?The response to our raindrop tourism initiatives has been good. A lot of Gujaratis, Marathis, and Bengali tourists are booking these packages, especially the budget travellers,? says a GTDC official.
The country manager of TripAdvisor India, Nikhil Ganju, points out that the marketing initiatives and discounts offered are working, as there is an increased interest among travellers during this season to travel. ?Tourists throng Goa and Kerala during monsoon as hotels are available at one-third the price. Hotels are also reporting a healthy occupancy, even though traditionally it is a lean season,? he says, adding that when he visited Goa a couple of weeks back it wasn?t as deserted as it used to be a few years ago during rainy seasons.
According to TripAdvisor the top monsoon destinations are Leh, Goa, Lonavala, Darjeeling, Kerala, Uttarakhand and Coorg.
Travel agents, too, are selling monsoon packages on discount, luring young budget travellers and couples looking for a romantic getaway. For instance, Cox & Kings has special monsoon packages to Goa, Kerala, Kashmir and other weekend destinations. ?Hotels offer a discount of up to 30% during monsoon and airlines also do not hike fares. We also see an increase in the number of tourists from the Middle-East, who come to enjoy the rains,? says Karan Anand, head, relationships and suppliers management, Cox & Kings.
Travel portal EzeeGo1.com?s COO Neelu Singh says that more and more foreigners especially from Middle East are coming in for the sheer experience of rains. Though, she says, it?s too early in the year to give a figure about the increase in the number of bookings. However, with the interest it has been garnering among travellers, who love to get drenched in rains, the future of monsoon tourism looks promising.
Lonavala
A hot favourite among Bollywood filmmakers and a quick getaway from the maddening hustle and bustle of Mumbai, Lonavala is best visited during monsoon when the place dons the shade of green. The drive is scenic and pleasant, the surrounding lush green and the weather likeable. Mornings are misty and echo with the chirping of migratory birds. The perfect place to enjoy your vacation in a hammock.
Goa
Goa has a lot more to offer than the beaches and that ?more? can be seen during monsoon. Though the famous nightlife is minimal, travel to Goa during the monsoon and to experience it the local Goan way. Monsoon in Goa is all about lush and green plantation and flowers in full bloom.
Leh
Monsoon is the best time to visit Leh. The weather is warm and nature and adventure lovers will find this time excellent for hiking and paragliding. There are also many trekking trails from Likir to Temisgam, and from Spituk to Markha Valley.
Darjeeling
If you love the idea of living inside a cloud, Darjeeling is the place. It looks fresh and green and the sun plays hide and seek with the mist and the clatter of rain. It is pure bliss to be in Darjeeling during monsoon. The only problem is that the place becomes prone to landslides, and hence a little risky.
Kerala
According to Ayurveda, monsoon is an ideal season to get massage therapy treatments for various diseases. Due to the climate and abundant supply of medicinal plants and herbs, Kerala remains the best choice to avail ayurvedic therapies. Monsoon is not only a good time for spa enthusiasts to visit God?s Own Country but also for nature lovers who want to experience the green side of the destination.
Uttarakhand
The beautiful landscape of the Valley of Flowers National Park in Uttarakhand comes alive with rain. This high-altitude Himalayan valley has around 300 different varieties of alpine flowers?a bright carpet of colour against a snow capped mountain. The best time to visit Uttarakhand is during the months of July and August when the flowers are in full bloom post the first monsoon showers.
Coorg
The monsoon is the most romantic season of all to visit Coorg. Situated on Karnataka?s Western Ghats, the place boasts of misty hills, lush green valleys, coffee plantations and teak forests. The coffee estates here produce some of the world?s best coffee. Other specialties include honey, cardamom, pepper and oranges. For adventure lovers, this pretty hill station, which is sometimes called the Scotland of India, has a number of trekking trails.
