Theme for a dream holiday

Travel Travel enthusiasts in India are venturing beyond the obvious to indulge in specialised, theme-based, holidays. To cater to this growing demand, there’re vacations based around fashion weeks, world sporting events, spa therapies and more on offer.

P Srinivas, senior vice president (special interest tours), SOTC says, “We’ve seen a marked shift in sports tourism since 2003.” He adds that travellers have the option of picking from holidays based on cricket world cups, the Olympics, Wimbledon as well as F1 Grand Prix. Even niche sports like soccer have begun to get a huge response.

Capitalising on this trend, SOTC is planning a tour for the Manchester United vs Arsenal game, which, according to Srinivas, is a lifetime experience. The package will cost between Rs 65-75,000.

For fashionistas, Dubai has an exciting offer to show you the glamour side of the city. The Dubai Fashion Week package, available on most travel portals, combines the best of the city’s tourist destinations with a ticket for one show on the last day of the fashion week, that takes place in October. Says Nisha Sharma, who has just booked the package for her second wedding anniversary: “It’d have been nearly impossible for us to get tickets to an international fashion week. But courtesy this tour, we can now witness a fashion show!”

There’re also options like spa and wildlife tours that are becoming popular. Says Sharat Dhall, MD of travel community portal Trip Advisor (India): “People between the age group of 25-45 years are the ones experimenting most with unique themes.”

Usually, the difference between a theme package based around an event and a normal package is only to the tune of the price of the ticket to that event. So a trip to Singapore, that’d generally cost around Rs 30,000 (twin sharing basis), may cost you Rs 40,000 if you want to witness the Singapore F1.