Proposing RARE Travel

The purpose of this paper is to assess the market indicators that RARE India is present in and propose an extension of services and products to the RARE portfolio that improves the economic bottom line, as well as extends the environmental and social bottom line incorporating the rather important element of the circular economy, regeneration (Ellen Macarthur Foundation, n.d.). The paper further ideates a marketing campaign to promote this product extension and explores aspects of communications that could effectively convey circularity of the economy as well as integrate the concept of regenerative tourism (The New York Times, 2021, February 25).

As quoted on RARE India’s Website, under the about us section, “We are a Consultancy, Marketing, Sales, Communication & PR company that excels at promoting travel experiences and hotels that include homestays, retreats, wildlife lodges, heritage palaces and forts.” (Rare India, n.d.). The current business model of RARE India is that of an aggregator of hotels, it is a platform for conscious travellers to book a responsible hotel seamlessly and experience what the hotel and the destination offers. The proposal is hence to extend this business model with good relationships with over hundred boutique hotels in India to a ’Regenerative Tour Operator’ was a natural, yet comes with its own set of challenges, particularly from the perspective of environmental sustainability. The solutions to these challenges are addressed later in the paper. The company has been coined ‘RARE Travel’ and a website has been developed to highlight the business of RARE and Regenerative Travel: www.rare.travel. Book a tour itinerary on RARE, made up of a thematic day wise itinerary usually including hotels, ground and air transportation, local experiences, everything from start to finish of a traveller’s journey (Wikipedia, n.d.).

Extending the product offering from hotel bookings to a travel itinerary addresses social sustainability as well as environmental sustainability. In order for RARE to have transparency in their operations, particularly considering the business model will be driven by core values of sustainability, it is imperative to assess the supply chain that exists in travel (International Centre for Responsible Tourism Australia, n.d). The supply chain can play an important role in the creation of circular economy. Elements identified for the supply chain are accommodation, air and land transportation, ground handlers and local experience providers, local restaurants and bars, local food suppliers, local craft producers and suppliers. RARE should have a transparent and sound audit system in place which measures and tracks ‘Key Sustainability Indicators such as environmental performance including sustainable & local sourcing, employment conditions for staff and provision of training on sustainability issues, employment opportunities for local community, environmental infrastructure in the destination, especially for management of solid and liquid wastes, linkages with the local economy especially for food supply, handicrafts and furniture, environmental performance of ground & air transport including shift to bio & green energy. Further the micro supply chain can further be audited with indicators of sustainable production, reliability, and distribution to access markets.