Startups such as Padhaaro and SeekSherpa offering micro tours, local attractions to tourists

PUNE: When Geetika Lal, an architect based in Chennai, travelled to Gurgaon for six months to work on a project for her firm, she wanted some local experience, but had no friends there. One day on Facebook she located SeekSherpa, a travel startup that offers micro tours and local activities across the country. “I reached out asking for a local person. They arranged a local guide, Nikunj, who took me to a small street food corner in Gurgaon, which I would never have found myself,” she said. “This time I will be going back to Delhi, and have spoken to them to explore Old Delhi.”

With more and more western and Indian travellers seeking local, unique experiences, a number of travel startups such as Padhaaro, Tushky.com, ‘Be The Local’ and SeekSherpa are cropping up, offering the local flavor of a place beyond standardized tourist itineraries with local people acting as guides.

“Our platform help the traveller experience a local culture at a close range, and also gives an opportunity to local people to package their services to travellers to give them a unique experience,” said Dhruv Raj Gupta, 23, cofounder of Delhi-based SeekSherpa.
While national players such as Padhaaro, Tushky.com and SeekSherpa offer micro tours, local attractions, cuisines and hobby activities for tourists across the country, by crowdsourcing local guides, ‘Be The Local’ offer unique experiences in Mumbai like a tour of the Dharavi slum.

Increasingly travellers are looking to have personal experiences that they can take back with them, said Nandini Hirianniah of The Morpheus, the country’s first startup accelerator, which invested Rs 5 lakh in Padhaaro as seed capital.

“Travel as a segment is huge in India, and varied experiences are there to offer to the tourists. There is a definite demand for experiences that touches a traveller personally. The challenge is to build the trust value with the hosts and guests and execute the model well,” she said.

Padhaaro, founded by Ish Jindal in 2012, connects travellers to local people who can offer unique experiences to tourists in terms of culture, activities and local attractions. “We are always on a quandary when we visit a new city as to what to do there, which will add to our experience. Our with us help travellers get a local feel of the city beyond standard locations,” said Jindal.

He said the total investment in the venture is around .`8 lakh, it has 250 registered greeters and has so far given around 600 tours. “We will be launching a more scalable model in the next three months,” he said.