Our Story: How a tour company grew out of a Kerala backwater village

Rediscovering our roots: The initial days of Indus

In 1998, I relocated to my ancestral home in Kumarakom and spent some time exploring and rediscovering the backwater villages. The idea was to revisit those experiences that added colour to local life. A few like-minded youngsters joined in to form our core team. Our eyes were tuned to the gems that the village community lived with each and every day. We thought, if we could give access to these experiences it would be like treasure to the traveler.

Destiny had its role to play when I recieved a call from some friends in London who wanted us to organise their trip. The first opportunity to test our ideas (first clients), we made it a personal affair, invited them home and informally accompanied them for the for the entire trip like any local would. This was the humble beginning our our long-standing journey in the tourism space. 

Our first clients were personal friends from my London days. I quickly realised that, purely because of my background, I was in this unique position where I understood traveller needs and local aspirations equally well.

I felt that this was going to make a critical difference in the value I provided as a travel facilitator. We spent our energies into developing unique experiences. Amongst our first unique offerings revolved around the snake boat races of Kerala. Our team initiated local partnerships and engaged communities so that travelers across the globe could join in the elaborate race preparation and cheer for a team while experiencing the race.

While giving travelers unforeseen access we were also able to supplement the incomes of the poorer sections of society living by the backwaters

The 'boat race experience' along with many of our culturally immersive tours on yoga/ayurveda, festivals and village life soon gained traction with tourists looking for unique backwater experiences. We wanted people to experience the best of the land and the venture became a vehicle to touch lives across all backgrounds. It was the fun experience of handling responsible tourism ventures in the Kumarakom backwaters that inspired us to move to Kochi and formally setup Indus Holidays in 2002.

Building the firm around our values

From the beginning, we believed that bringing a human touch to our cultural interactions would make all the difference between good and extra-ordinary. We wanted it to be part of the DNA of whatever we did. What if we could create experiences that would continue to play out in your mind long after the journey is over? This thought of giving a well-rounded, diverse and deep experience soon evolved into our travel philosophy:

Don’t merely visit as a passive tourist, come, connect with all your senses and absorb the destination like an insider

We started as a special interest tour provider in the small backwater village of Kumarakom (Kerala). With our small efforts becoming popular, we organically grew to expand our horizons into other parts of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Goa. Over the last 14 years, we have been helping traveller's connect with the culture, landscape, people and food throughout South India. Along the way we developed some specialised portfolio of travel products addressing needs of different kinds of travellers to this region.
 

Each of theses services have dedicated teams and remain true to our five senses travel concept. As of today, we are a full-service South India tour operator with these core offerings:

• Personalised Holiday Planning in South India: Hand-crafted leisure trips for Individuals and Groups
• Spirtitual and Cultural tours: Special interest specialisation where we dig deep into the experience elements
• Ayurveda and Health vacations: Guided and informed services for health related travel with good deals
• Destination Wedding in South India: Full-service event management customised with local flavour and cultural elements
• Tourism transportation services: Own team of trained chauffeurs with owned and attached vehicles
• Advised Hotel/Experience Booking: A platform which provides best hotel deals with local know how
• Corporate/Incentive events: Dedicated event/tour planning keeping corporate objectives in mind

Moving Forwards: Above and beyond

We've managed to build a reputation as a specialist in this part of the world and we would love to continue expansion in our key markets. It helps keep our tours personal and human which is core to our being. Tourism is making great strides globally as a human connector. We're excited to be part of the action.

We have found it interesting to observe the growing popularity of our special interest temple/spiritual and cultural tours over the years. We are also in the process of detailing it in the style it deserves. This is going to be a focus area for the next couple of years.

Our expansion into other parts of the hospitality industry with our own resorts/boutique properties is also showing great promise and is a growing segment for us. All from Kochi!

Extending a warm welcome to you

At the core, our journey was never about joining the bandwagon of travel service providers, it has always been about re-discovering what is truly our own.

 

It is this deep and passionate feel that you can expect when you travel with Indus Holidays. After 15+ years of operations, we continue with our narrow focus of destinations which helps us keep our tours personal and powered by our research expertise.

The journey continues today with every traveller giving us new creative challenges and their kind words keeping us enthused to improve our services. Thank you for taking time to know us better. We have lots more to share. Come, join us on a tour as we take you through South India. You’ll leave with much more than just beautiful pictures!

To many happy journeys ahead,