With COVID-19, it seems the entire world has come to a stand still. Flights are grounded, hotels are empty, and cities are like ghost towns. Several have asked – will the travel industry every return to normal? Our answer is simple: Travel is not an industry, and “normal” must be re-defined.

At tripvana, we believe that travel is a way of life, our path to self-discovery. From the beginning of time, everything we have learned about people, cultures, nature, science & technology can be attributed to this innate need to explore our universe and understand our place in it.

We also believe that our pre-COVID perception of “normal” is no longer relevant. Pre-COVID, the “normal” travel experience was commoditized, fragmented, and transactional. Post-COVID, travel must be completely personalized.

There are five key trends which validate these two core beliefs. While these trends were already present pre-COVID, they have now accelerated and become firmly entrenched in our consciousness.

1. Multi-generational family travel – Living through a pandemic has sparked a re-evaluation of people’s priorities. 91% of millennials want to take a multi-generational trip including children, parents, and grandparents, at least once a year
2. Private, exclusive experiences – Consumers want unique, private excursions and exclusive lodging options including family run lodges, villas and boutique hotels that give them both privacy and an authentic flavor of the destination, its people, cuisines and cultures
3. Remote destinations and outdoor activities – Travelers are craving the great outdoors and seeking itineraries focused on distant locations with wide open spaces and a wide range of passive and active excursions – from wildlife safaris to birding tours, biking, and trekking
4. Cultural, heritage & ancestry travel – 86% of millennials want to experience a new culture on their travels, and a whole new class of travelers is emerging who want to re-trace the roots of their parents and grandparents, up to eight generations back
5. Resurgence of travel advisors – Travelers are increasingly seeking the help of experts to plan their trips. 60% of millennials are willing to pay more for destination knowledge, and 82% are willing to pay more to take the hassle out of travel planning

Given the accelerating trend towards personalized travel, let us explore the problem with crafting personalized trips today. There are four key steps for personalized travel: Research, Planning, Booking and Management. Currently, consumers are having to spend 45 days and visit 140 websites on average to navigate these four stages. Why is this the case?

1. Research is about exploring various destinations, activities and accommodations. However, 80% of travel experiences, particularly in more remote destinations, have no high quality image or video content online. Whatever content is available is highly fragmented across multiple travel sites and niche travel blogs
2. Planning requires expertise to create an optimal day by day itinerary, but online travel sites offer no support for itinerary creation, nor do they offer any access to any travel advisors who have deep, local expertise on destinations, activities and accommodations
3. Booking is about making reservations, but currently reservations are scattered across multiple sites, and travel documents are fragmented across multiple formats and channels (email, PDF documents etc.)
4. Management is about making any changes to a booked itinerary, but making even simple changes requires contacting multiple customer support personnel, who often treat customers like a number, instead of a person

At tripvana, everything we do, is based on one guiding principle – “nirvana is a journey.” As every individual’s journey to nirvana is uniquely personal, we believe that every trip on that journey must also be uniquely personal. Therefore, we have designed a new process where every trip starts with YOU the customer, defining what it is that YOU want from your travel experience:

1. Customers visit our site and view high quality image or video content, including VR & AR content, that provides an authentic understanding of various cultures, traditions, cuisines, historical events, ecological issues, natural phenomena and local communities, around the world
2. Customers then save their favorites, create aspirational travel boards that capture all the elements of their dream vacation, and push a button to get connected to trusted, destination-specific experts who help craft unique, customized itineraries, often including exclusive activities and accommodations
3. Customers can then book everything from one site including all the customized tours & activities and any flights, hotels or cars they wish to book independently
4. Finally, customers can access all their travel documents in one place while traveling and contact a single person for any itinerary changes, thus greatly simplifying itinerary management

By offering customers a unique combination of content, customization and convenience, tripvana enables customers to focus their efforts on envisioning their perfect trip, while leaving it to us to make it a reality.

Further, we build a long-lasting relationship with each of our customers, enabling us to serve you better by suggesting new experiences that are more relevant for your individual journey to nirvana.

Join us today, and start your journey!