Selecting & reserving a tourism

package with a Indian tourism

company in India

Group tour packages and bookings for various tours across India are offered by hundreds of travel and tourism companies in India. Selecting the right tourist operator for your visit may not be as easy as simply selecting a tour package on a website and paying by credit card up front. On the surface when checking out websites of various tour operators, readers will find them all to be somewhat similar. They generally offer the same itineraries and quite often even the same enticing photographs. So how can tourists planning visits find reliable tour operators in India? Reviews are one method many tourists rely on to purchase travel related services for tourism. However, fake reviews are quite common and readers should read between the lines and make an informed decision.

Registered Tour Operators

Many may not be aware but India does have registered tour operators. The Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) is the National body of the tourism industry. It has over 1500 members covering all segments of Tourism Industry. Established in 1982. Before paying any money for a tour booking make sure your tour company is a member of The Indian Association of Tour Operators. Ask Questions before Making Confirmed Booking Tour packages that extend for a few days will involve: • Transportation • Hotels • Meals • Sightseeing • Entrance Fees to Attractions

Here are some points to think

about.

Transportation

If Buses or Cars are being used to transport tour group members, it may help to know how many would be in the group touring with you. They won’t give you the exact number as they will not know in advance but ask • What the maximum number would & be as well as the minimum. Some companies may cancel or arbitrarily change itinerary if they do not get a certain number of clients. • Type of bus or car’s to be used. Whether they have Air condition or not. Travel in India by buses is not the same as foreigners may be accustomed to. Most buses in India are not equipped with a washroom. This indeed a problem many people do not realize when making tour bookings that involve long distance travel by bus. I had firsthand experience of this on a bus trip from Mumbai to Goa about a 10 hour drive and no washroom on the bus. Generally such buses stop at a few designated stops which are usually small shopping areas with a public toilet that are not what one might expect when it comes to cleanliness. Taking long distance buses in India is not easy for foreign tourists and if possible should be avoided

Hotels

All tourist packages where hotels are part of the package should provide a hotel name and also the star rating. Tour operators may also add a line to the hotel name show saying that hotel is not guaranteed or they will provide a similar type of hotel as mentioned. Get the names of the alternate hotels they use and check their ratings.

Meals

If meals are included check beforehand the type of food offered to ensure it suits your needs. Many tours in India cater to vegetarians only and may arrange for food stops during sightseeing at restaurants that provide only vegetarian meals.

Sightseeing

Keep in mind that stops at attractions when doing group tours are limited to time allowed to be spent at each location. Check beforehand how much time is allowed at each location on the planned itinerary.

Entrance Fees to Attractions

Some places on your sightseeing tour may have entrance fee. Generally these should be covered in the tour package fee. Check before making your tour booking so you know the exact cost of your tour package. Options to consider if planning to purchase a group tour • Keep in mind that just about anything can be negotiated, however once you have given a deposit for a tour, your options of negotiation are just about gone. Anything you want to change, do it before you pay. • Upgrade the hotel room you could also pay slightly more to upgrade. Will be cheaper if you do it before you make the final booking • Most tour operators will allow clients to join the tour at a different location. Suppose a tourist wants to skip the first two days of an advertised 10 day package and join at the third stop. This can be negotiated and price reduced accordingly

Pros & Cons of joining group tours

Pros: • Tours are planned by operators and cover most popular attractions for the area you are going to be visiting. No need by tourists to make reservations, buy entrance tickets or arrange transportation • You get a chance of meeting other tourists and learn about different cultures, languages etc. • May and I say may turn out to be slightly cheaper if you book the right tour Cons: • Time to visit attractions is limited. As part of a tour group you will have to limit visit time at attractions as per the tour schedule. • You may or may not like the company of the people who are in the group tour with you • Generally food stops may not be what you are used to and most times no other option will be available.

Travel Independently option

The option to travel on your own gives tourists the freedom to plan their own travel itineraries and they can select the places they wish to visit. They also can spend as much time they like at places that they like and move away quickly from places where they feel they have seen enough. Tips to create your own touring itinerary in India • Places to visit in India is what many tourists try and decide and this is quite easy these days. Simply use the Internet to check out the various tour packages advertised by various tour operators. From here you can pick and choose the locations and attraction of interest to you and at the same time learn more about these places. The travel time, what to see and how to get there are all listed and yours to use to plan your trip independently free of cost! • A private car & driver in India generally costs about Rupees 2000 [about US$ 30] per day. This gives you the freedom to travel independently to see the attractions in the city you are visiting. Generally drivers know the city and act as a free travel guide as the drive you around. • When renting car & driver in India on a daily basis, generally two rates for the same car are provide. One for the car with Air conditioning and the other without Air conditioning, the non-A/C being cheaper. People who want to save money opt for the non-A/C these days & then simply tip the driver on the road to turn on the A/C. Perhaps not ethical but these drivers make very little money. • If you plan ahead, train travel is the most economical mode of transportation in India. There are special reservation quotas for foreign tourists which help tourists make train reservations. • Uber taxi cars are now available in 27 Indian cities. You will find them in Ahmedabad, Kochi, Ajmer, Udaipur, Jodhpur, Surat, Vadodara, Bhubaneshwar, Guwahati, Coimbatore, Indore, Mysore, Nagpur, Vishakhapatnam, Nashik, Thiruvananthapuram, Mangalore and Bhopal. Best of all if you already have a foreign credit card on your Uber account, you can continue to pay through your card for Uber rides in India. • When planning your own travel itinerary you will have the choice of the hotels according to your budget. All hotels have what is called a rack rate, this is the full price at which rooms are sold to customers before discounts. Generally most walk in customers of a hotel end up paying the full rack rate. So do your research and book online beforehand to get the best rates. • When selecting hotels, in addition to the price do check the location of the hotel compared to other attractions, as well as distance from railway station or airport etc. Hotels also have tour desks that offer day trips and some of these are quite good.