Active Holiday Company Redefines The Travel Scenario In India

Interviews • July 17, 2018 • Saurabh Nanda

It is rightly said that if something is meant to come back, then it will definitely return. This holds true not just for love, but also in reference to your job, your profession-one of your love interests. Something similar happened in the life of the founder of Active Holiday Company.

Gauri Jayaram has been in the travel business in India for 26 years and is ‘actively’ redefining the travel scene carefully crafted by her to give travellers a true experience of ‘adventure’.

The travel junkie joined the world’s largest coach touring company, Cosmos Coach Tours, in 2005 and delivered her best as the Regional Director for South Asia and the Middle East until she decided to call time on her tenure there in 2014. Picking up marathon running as a hobby in 2008, Jayaram started running in different countries so that along with fitness she could also club her love for exploring new destinations.   

Jayaram, who has travelled to over 50 countries, went on to start Active Holiday Company in 2014 with co-founder Geeta Amin. They took a group of runners for the London Marathon that same year. 

While Jayaram could see a surge in demand for adventure travel, it was very hard in the initial years for her to sell adventure destinations in India. Lack of customers and proper guidelines for adventure tourism were easily the biggest challenges in the early years.

Hence, the published author is not in favour of India-based tours for her venture. According to her, it is a great segment – just not the one she is interested in adding to her list of key offerings.

The iron-willed fitness freak who has run a race to the lowest point on earth (The Dead Sea Ultra Run in Jordan) and even trekked to the base camp of the world’s highest mountain – the Mt. Everest says – 

She says that most domestic travellers are also insensitive to environmental challenges and the dangers of travelling with tour operators who have no safety standards. Accidents in India are routinely reported without much change in the standard of operation.

Gauri Jayaram with other runners from India at the London marathon

Perception gets built only after an experience, which also explains Jayaram’s passion for what she has been involved in.

For example solo traveller 67-year-old Neeru Saluja from Jaipur has done several tours with the adventure travel company. These tours generally involve easy walking and exploring and sometimes these are are self-guided so you can explore at your pace, she says.

In September this year, a father-son duo, the Muthiyans, will run the full marathon (42.2 kilometres) in Berlin, Germany. Ranging from easy to moderate to demanding, Active Holiday Company has it all for you!

Supermodel Milind Soman, who is also an Ironman athlete features on the board of advisors for Active Holiday Company

The four-year old company has three key functions- Marketing, Operations and Sales and Admin, employing about 12 equally passionate (about travel) people. The small team she feels are able to address everything and successfully manage and offer travel experiences to vacationers encompassing all 7 continents in close to about 100 countries across the globe, undertaking 1000 plus trips for travel and adventure enthusiasts.

The fact that she bought herself a hybrid bicycle to replace her depreciated car and was voted one of the Most Influential Persons in the Travel Industry by NDTV Profit and Travel News Digest (2014), Jayaram brings in a plethora of experience that is key in guiding the team to consistently deliver the best.

Gauri, her friends and clients exploring Zagreb on bicycles

Also a ‘leading travel magazine writer’, Gauri says- 

The other challenge has been getting the right people for the right job. Hiring someone who can do the job and is a great fit with the organisation are hardly easy to come by according to her.  

Unlike other apps and web-based travel startups, her company hardly relies on technology as she feels they do not need it much except in methodically managing their back-end systems. Their business needs emotional investment, something that is also their expertise.

Active Holiday Company’s first Boston Marathon Group in 2018

Products and offerings backed by innovation and thorough research have worked the best for them.

Marathon hopping, cycling tours, polar and winter expeditions, walking and trekking, multi-active adventures, triathlon, wildlife safaris, sailing, family trips and customised tours are some of their key offerings.

What easily stands out is their ‘Culture Vulture’ offering. A Culture Vulture trip is meant for a hungry traveller, one who is willing to go that extra mile. Who wants to explore what’s not obvious to ordinary tourists who will see what is shown to them. The cultural high of these trips range from home-stays, the opportunity to engage with the locals in a deeper way, not just sampling local food but also the chance to learn to cook a local dish and getting to hear stories that only the locals know.

Active Holiday Company Travellers in the Sahara during a trip to Morocco

The company provides services and conducts activities that are exciting, unique and unlikely to be taken up by those looking for a ‘regular vacation’. The experiences offered are beyond the usual, and not boring at all. The company has been ‘actively’ pushing their travellers to explore and tell a different story each time they undertake a trip. The trips may end, but the gushes of memories surely don’t. Their offerings include real experiences- taking the back roads on bicycles, on foot or even the vintage tuk-tuks. Be it camping in the wild or experiencing a local home stay, they have got it all for you! Be it beer tasting at an indiscreet brewery or discover lesser-known street cafes, there will be more than enough adventure, as you cross villages that will leave you mesmerized with its scenic beauty.

For the trip(s) one undertakes, there is no compulsion to be escorted by a guide. As they say, there is something for everyone, giving like-minded travellers a plethora of options to pick from.

Some travel experiences can be life-changing. Their Young Adult Internships & Expeditions (YAIE) are just that! Imagine your teenager face to face with wildlife, accomplishing a challenging trek to the Everest Base Camp under expert supervision or walking 100 km on the Camino de Santiago. There are numerous opportunities to learn about the environment, wildlife conservation but these tours are really much more than that. Outdoor leadership development, photography, culinary art, science internships are some of the activities the company offers to young adults. These activities allow ample scope to learn new skills, for self-discovery and growth, to strengthen ties for cultural exchange, engage in community work and develop their personality.

The forty plus something CEO of the company headquartered in Bangalore says –

When she was probed on whether the company had implemented a loyalty system, she strongly insisted that it wasn’t a priority for them currently. However, she talks about a ‘loyalty’ of a different kind they and their customers have for each other.

Upendra Tripathi, a Bangalore-based resident has run all six major marathons of the world through the company. Vishwajeet Sawant and Venkatesh Dhond, lawyers from Mumbai have done four different international cycling tours with them so far.

Upendra Tripathi, regular marathon runner with Active Holiday Company

Venkatesh Dhond (extreme right) and Vishwajeet Sawant (second from right) with other Active Holiday Company clients on cycling tour

Vacation Labs efficiently manages the backend processes and what Jayaram calls ‘taking care of pain points’, minimizing the opportunity for/ of error. Vacation Labs can communicate and manage the processes taking away the challenges of doing manual operations. She believes the tour operator software has surely provided a great amount of value to them in running their business smoothly.

The services, the packages and the experiences of this company is a must for travellers looking to change their dimension of travel and go on a journey, one would long to keep going back to, time and again!

Active Holiday Company believes in responsible travel.