Hiking groups standing still

Companies are going online but virtual tours haven’t caught on

The adventure travel industry is among the groups heavily affected by the pandemic. Many companies have been putting out advertisements, but have had few takers. Metrolife spoke to some of these companies, to find out how they plan to move ahead.

More online presence

Prashant Yadav and Shifali Kawatra, co-founders of Adventuresome, are working on new ways to keep their business afloat.

Shifali says, “People are reading blogs about places they can travel to after the pandemic or are reminiscing about the places they have been to. We are leveraging on that and working on building our online presence. At least we can show them pictures of the places they are missing.”

Adventuresome is working with firms that provide virtual tours. “We are in touch with a company that provides the software for this. There isn’t too much traction, but we are working on it.”

Jatin Munvar, founder of ‘Plan the Unplanned’ fears the worst. He says, “We have a lot of pending payments. The situation is likely to remain the same for the next couple of months or whenever things resume.”

He adds that virtual tours are not financially viable. “It is not a concept we want to explore because that’s not what travel is about. You need to be out there and explore. As of now, we are focusing on bettering our Instagram page with new ideas.”

Sangeeta Bhattacharya, founder of 50+ Voyagers Travel and Adventure Club, feels the same about virtual tours. Running a travel company for senior citizens, she says there will be no business during the pandemic.

“Everyone is badly hit. We understand that virtual tours are a good way for people to think of something else but it’s not going to generate any revenue for a company like mine. We are going to have to think of other ways to keep the firm afloat till things pick up,” she explains. Meanwhile, they are looking at new destinations that could be explored once the pandemic is over.

Cancellation of tickets

‘India Hikes’ had to cancel all the travel plans arranged since March. COO Sandhya Chandrasekharsyya told Metrolife that they had to refund all the packages booked till August/September.

She says, “We had to call back everyone who had gone to the mountains and cancel everything else that was planned for the last couple of months.”

Since no one can hike now, the team is using this time to update the tracks with the information they have collected over time. Some of them even include video clippings of people who have travelled those paths.

She feels virtual cities are still a long way away. “Honestly, I don’t know how it’ll work as it’s pretty much just watching and waiting. Google Earth and Maps have embedded pictures and videos which an expert can use to talk about the tracks seen. But that’s about it.”

With the uncertainty of the pandemic, travel companies are using this time to rebrand and rebuild their database as best as they can. But, one is certain as to where this may all lead.