Off-the-beaten track holidays and holidays for well-being are steadily becoming more popular with travellers across the world. Increasingly, the travellers want to visit a serene location for some peaceful time, away from the stresses of routine life as also they want to regain their vigour and spirit to prepare for a right start to their lives with a fresh perspective.
India, the culture rich land of eclectic colours with its vast expanse offers satisfying experiences to all types of travellers. Especially, the rich flora and fauna and the traditional Ayurveda treatments are generating a lot of interest with the globe-trotters in recent years. Almost 10% of all travellers to India experience Ayurveda treatments for beauty, recharging their bodies, detoxification through Panchakarma or for alleviating the impact of lifestyle and health issues.
Understanding the need to regulate the quality of ingredients and services, the government of India has started a certification process for Ayurveda Resorts and Hospitals. This becomes especially important in Kerala, where the tourist boom has also resulted in many falsely claiming to be proponents of original Kerala Ayurveda. However, the guests should be cautious when selecting a Resort or Hospital. It is highly recommended that the services of a focused Tour Operator be hired to select and book the right resort for the experience that you seek. A complete holistic experience in Ayurveda is never complete without proper guidance on Food, Yoga and Meditation. Therefore, someone simply claiming to be a great Ayurveda expert may not be able to give you a holistic experience. At the end of the day, it is a complete hospitality experience that most guests want and the knowledgeable Tour operators address this demand expertly.
The issues are similar if not same when a domestic traveller wants to visit an Ayurveda facility for a staycation, i.e., short stay in the nearby region of home. The effort is to gain the best experience at the smallest expense. Unfortunately, all Ayurveda treatment centres displaying Hindu gods and mythical figures with a 24x7 lit-lamp are not equipped to give the authentic experience. The subject is also important for foreign travellers away from Kerala but who yearn for the authentic Ayurveda experience. It is for this reason that a certain degree of expertise is required to recommend the right Ayurveda treatment centre for travellers. A select group of practitioners are famous for the authentic Delhi Ayurveda. From 5star luxury to an actual Ashram like setting, some of the Delhi and North Indian centres actually excel at providing the authentic Ayurvedic treatments.
Of course, there are providers of Holidays packages in India who shall claim to be able to cater to all your needs. It is therefore important to visit their websites to check out their area of expertise. Whether they have the range of Ayurveda packages that an expert should have will be a good starting point. Same goes for vacations with nature or in serene locations. One needs to be cautious when dealing with a generalist because even if they may succeed at giving you the right experience, the price shall not be right.
In light of above, it is highly recommended that hiring the right tour operator should be your choice. I.B.M. Institute for Business Value, set out to answer the very question of whether hiring a Tour operator made sense? In a survey of more than 2,000 travellers worldwide, 20 percent said it took them more than five hours to search and book travel online. Nearly half said it required more than two hours. It is also established that the right tour operators and agents win “nearly every time,” “on both price and service. In other words, the agents suggested alternate routes, gave advice on visas and just generally acted, well, more human than their computer counterparts.”
