Glamping, a new way to have fun outdoors

Chennai: Camping at the foothills of the Himalayas is always a thrilling experience. Imagine doing that sitting in a cosy tent with all fancy facilities including toilets, sit outs and even electronic safes. Sounds unlike camping does it? Well, this new way of experiencing wilderness — also known as glamping — is becoming popular among mid-range and affluent travellers and is picking up in areas like Ladakh and the North East.

Travellers who are wary about hygiene, but want to experience wilderness are taking to this trend. Chirag Gupta, founder, Deyor Camps which organises adventure tours and camps said, “The trend really picked up in 2017 and we are experiencing a 20% growth. With the Indian government declaring 2018 to be the year of adventure tourism, we expect a growth of 35%.” Popular destinations include wildlife parks, forests, deserts and plateaus of Leh Ladakh, he added.

Glamping is also picking up in places where resorts are far away from the unexplored locations and accommodation becomes difficult.

“Connectivity through roads is difficult and there is no electricity in such areas. Adventure seekers end up spending more on setting up these tents complete with beds, sit out areas, in the middle of nowhere. It works out more expensive as the absence of facilities such as restaurants in the vicinity would trigger the need for chefs to be included in the package. With increasing number of companies getting into this segment, the exorbitant budgets of few lakhs, have dropped to Rs 5,000 to Rs 9,000 per night. This is spurring more experiential travellers into trying glamping,” said Anirudh Gupta, co-founder, Tripoto.

In the domestic market, this segment is growing at between 10-15%, travel portals say. Players such as The Ultimate Travelling Camp, Black Swan Journeys offer a gamut of services including nature walks, local culture experience, in addition to accommodation.

“This growth is primarily driven by people globe trotters who have experienced such products overseas and now are sampling them in India. These tents are set up in pristine locations where there are no luxury hotels,” said Karan Anand—head, relationships, Cox & Kings Ltd.