Heritage’ Is Now A ‘Venture
We have witnessed the presence of entrepreneurs in industries dominated by technology and yet few have been able to explore the services sector, like travel and tourism, especially the heritage side. This sector is a multibillion vertical, unexplored to its fullest. Heritage is one key vertical under travel and tourism industry that has evolved with time. Across the world. Heritage is one that exists and therefore must be systematically explored. With time, industry has transformed from a limited visitor type to a much deeper engaged immersive in experiential learning.
Exploring the heritage world is the most ‘in thing’ by travellers. Heritage has emerged as a star tourist and traveller’s attraction, caressing adventure to experience new locations as a ‘vacation’. With increased interest around heritage (both tangible and in-tangible), the world is welcoming exposure to cross cultural diversities. People are thrilled to explore the authentic traditions, under the banner of cuisine, art, architecture, textile and much more in the travel & tourism sector. In India, this travel & tourism industry accounts for nearly 8 percent of the total employment opportunities generated in the country. It shall be providing employment to around 41 million individuals, increasing 2 percent yearly. In 2019, the foreign exchange earned was more than US$ 2.55 billion for the month of January, with yearly gross of US$ 29 billion in 2018, which was about to grow. With global tourism market continuing to scale, the market size has been rapidly expanding, making it one the world's fastest growing and largest sectors, nearly touching 5.27 percent annual growth, ready to be exploited. But are there entrepreneurs ready to Golf? Certainly yes, there is one Dr Sachin Bansal, a charismatic entity with a clear foresight and possessing a first mover advantage.
Sachin was born in a service-class family with a rendition to be an entrepreneur. His extraversion, optimism and ready to capture minute details of the city, even while he was young was to propel as his core competence. The tours that he sneaked in childhood were in itself a galaxy, which he thought of exploring as an experiential traveller, once he grew up. With time he matured and turned out as an invincible explorer, in a world of tourism. Currently, megatrends have evolved with tourists being transformed as travellers, says, Dr. Sachin Bansal, an entrepreneur and Chief Explorer ® . He has evolved from a brand teller to a storyteller in the heritage tourism space and is pacing in crafting an unlimited potential for the heritage world.
The entrepreneur and his comrades have set new trends in delivering tourism experiences in India by providing thematic, immersive walks, legacy based tours bringing life to memories. This serial micro-entrepreneur, a passionate entity, has been creating an everlasting impact in his industry. He germinated this idea as Delhi Walks ® expanding to India City Walks ™ , Storytellers of India ® , India Heritage Walks ® , India Food Trails ™ and more…, showcasing India through Incredible India Stories ® . The entrepreneur has capitalised upon, narrating stories and creating branding standards. The brand has received several tourism awards.
The Indian Tourism Industry- Heritage, is an unlimited potential for tourism. There is a need to have storytellers. The rising India is young, with abundant heritage, world culture and the youth, curious to know the past. This unlimited potential was seized upon by Sachin, who started opened avenues for new breed of storytellers by transforming locals into Heritage Heroes ™ , City Explorers ® and Walk Leaders®, steered by Sachin’s vision, who manages intentions and uniqueness. Community empowerment and capacity building is extremely important and relevant in this context that adds a value proposition. Customers have different mindsets with diverse perspectives, yet food binds them. With this, the entrepreneur initiated India Food Trails ™ and Culinary Walks ™ based on customer’s gastronomical desire to know the city. With this innate desire, he has been instrumental in building heritage tourism, as an emerging breed of entrepreneurs, with a true spirit of entrepreneurship. All of this ensures the future of city-sightseeing and development of local experiences for everyone’s direct benefit.
For a start-up India, the primary focus is to create and generate employment. This must also add to income generation, while strengthening the cultural fabric of any region. The robustness it creates will lead to cementing the cultural values and national boundaries, community development and empowerment of local and indigenous communities. This is what Sachin is attempting to create, as a new order. With widening of geographies in India there is an unlimited latent potential waiting to be capitalized. This needs be extruded to other boundaries by scaling with support of Venture Capitalists, a perfect choice for them at the right time. Dr Bansal, mentions that globally the mass needs to be steered towards experiencing heritage. India, as it gets younger, the heritage aspect of the tourism is a great opportunity. Discovering India by residents themselves will establish a pride to places starting at the local level. He believes in enhancing the city’s capacity by creating employment opportunities and exploring protective mechanisms for neighbourhoods through customer centric infrastructure is the next big opportunity to harness heritage tourism and in building the local economy.
Sachin’s foresight is based on critical thinking concerning tourism. He foresees an immense latent potential waiting to be capitalised both by the entrepreneur, the local economy and the national economy, post Covid-19. According to him, this unexplored billion-dollar market is an investment opportunity & must be reaped upon. The rapid change in the surroundings where we move, connecting with people, opportunities we embark upon is all together a new world.
If Sachin is the rising sun, there will be countless more to capitalize heritage tourism. Wake up, walk with him & explore our heritage world.
