The new focus on experiential learning in India’s booming education sector provides extensive business opportunities to big and small tour operators in the education tourism segment By Sudipta Dev
The education market in India in FY 2015-16, was worth about US$ 100 billion, which is expected to increase to US$ 116.4 billion in FY 2016-17. It is also important to highlight that in the next five years the country will have the largest tertiary-age population in the world, giving a fillip to the education sector. Developing simultaneously is the education tourism segment, which is expected to be one of the fastest growing travel sectors in India, offering untapped business potential to tour operators across the country. With experiential education becoming the buzzword, parents and educational institutions consider it a necessity to send children on these trips so that they can learn much more beyond the traditional classrooms. The fact that the demand for these tours are not limited to the Tier I city schools has further given impetus to the sector. The tour packages are diversified and tailor-made for both schools and institutions of higher/ professional education.
Opportunity for travel trade
The large number of IB, ICSE and CBSE schools that have mushroomed across the country have experiential learning as an inbuilt component in their curriculum. “The total number of students across these schools are in lakhs and provide an excellent opportunity for tour operators in the education space,” states Karan Anand – head, relationships, Cox & Kings.
“With India poised to become the world’s youngest nation by 2020, this changing young demographic group with growing aspirations seeks exposure to a global curriculum, and opportunities are increasingly being built into the curriculum of progressive Indian schools. The endorsement from schools for educational travel, coupled with the absence of organised players/ professional tour operators in the space, has created a viable opportunity,” says Abraham Alapatt – president & group head – Marketing, Service Quality, Financial Services & Innovation, Thomas Cook (India).
There are experts like Dr Srimathy Kesan, director, Space Kidz India, who believe that in a span of three-five years, the most potential segment in the tourism industry is going to be educational tourism. “Schools, institutions and parents have understood the need for travel and the alternate pedagogical learning that will enhance a child’s knowledge and will create a big impact on the child’s memory,” says Dr Kesan.
Strategic focus
Cox & Kings is the biggest operator in the segment, and Anand believes that one of the reasons why big players are preferred is due to their expertise. He shares, “The objective of our school trips is extending educational opportunities beyond the classroom. We organise visits to unfamiliar lands, science/ environmental tours, trips coupled with adventure activities or journeys that enhance the students’ understanding about different community, nature and history.” Cox & Kings has a two-pronged strategy for education tourism – domestic and international tours for school and college students and Indians travelling overseas for studies.
In 2011, Cox & Kings acquired Holidaybreak, which is the largest school group company in the world with over six decades of experience. While PGL is the market leader in the residential, outdoor education and adventure sector for UK schools, NST provides and operates educational travel tours to schools and colleges in the UK and Ireland. “Tours are offered worldwide, but principally to the UK and Western Europe and are on a subject-specific basis to complement learning activities and developed in line with existing curriculum needs,” mentions Anand. The other associated companies are – Travelplus, a German educational travel business, and TravelWorks, which offers working holidays and gap-year breaks. “EST specialises in bespoke educational travel and subject specific conferences for 16 plus, higher and further education students. StudyLink is a leading provider of specialist study tours, student group travel and student conferences for universities and colleges,” informs Anand.
Thomas Cook (India) targeted the student sector by setting up a dedicated Travel Quest vertical comprising experienced professionals across the educational and travel domain. Thomas Cook Travel Quest is India’s first national travel quiz for school students. In its season I (2014-15) it reached out to approximately five lakh students, 1100 schools and 16 cities; and the just concluded season II (2015-16) connected with seven lakh students, 1800 schools and covered 25 cities. “The latent demand has become even more evident – we have seen a 100 per cent growth from our Travel Quest Study Tours in the last two years and are confident of it further seeing a 25 per cent to 50 per cent upwards y-o-y in the next three-five years as the business matures,” affirms Alapatt. The company’s Travel Quest study tours vertical has organised over 65 study tours with over 1700 students to countries like Singapore, Malaysia, France, Switzerland, Canada, Sri Lanka, US, Vietnam, Cambodia, Netherlands and China. Domestic destinations include South India for architecture students with specialised guides, Jaipur, Ranthambore, Kerala and other destinations within the country.
Customised itineraries
Itineraries for the study tours are customised after taking feedback from the respective principals, teachers, parents and sociologists. “We have executed some of the most unique educational travel concepts in the past like excursion to rainforest in Agumbe (Karnataka), Odisha cultural tour combined with Sand Workshop by Sudarshan Pattnaik or trips to rural parts of Rajasthan coupled with handicraft/ art workshops, etc,” states Anand, adding that among international trips organised included NASA Astronaut Training eXperience (ATX) Programme with a fun filled holiday in the USA for students in Maharashtra. The World War II history tours to Munich, Prague and Vienna, include visits to Dachau Concentration Camp; the memorial site Kehlsteinhaus; and Seegrotte – an underground cave system used for production of fighter jets. Sports and adventure tours include skiing camps in Switzerland/ Austria; Michael Jordan Training Camp, USA and Real Madrid Soccer Camps in Spain.
Space Kidz India organises unique tours to research centres like NASA, Euro Space Centre, Yuri Gagarin Space Centre – Moscow. “Along with the above stated research centres, we have been the first in the world to take children (13-14 years) on a pilot training. Apart from simulation, the children along with a co pilot fly a Cirrus 22, Diamond DA, etc,” informs Dr Kesan. A one day workshop for students is conducted at one of the leading universities. The children are also taken to orphanages or old age homes to expose them about the life of the have-nots in another country. Shopping is also made educative, by teaching them about the exchange rates, cost differences, product varieties, quality, etc.
Theme based tours (science, culture, space) by Delhi based EduXpedition, are backed by research material which measures the learning from these trips through pre – programme and post – programme assessments. “To ensure holistic development of students, educational trips are led by student captains under the guidance of our tour director. Through Young Writer contest, students are rewarded for their creativity and talent,” informs Nisha Goel, head of programmes, EduXpedition. There are signature trips like Japan Art & Culture Immersion Tour programme, Ancient China Heritage Tour programme, etc, which are for long duration. “Currently educational trips to Japan and China are quite popular. Popular domestic destinations include Delhi, Agra, Jaipur, Khajuraho and Ranthambore. We also offer summer camping trips in Himachal and Uttaranchal,” says Goel. The off-the-shelf include regular educational trips like NASA Kennedy Space Centre Tour, Singapore Science Enrichment Tour Programme, Arabian Culture & Heritage Tour, and others.
Emerging trends
Thomas Cook (India) has witnessed an increasing uptake in Global Field Study Trips, not just from schools but also colleges and professional institutes. “While science tours for school students have seen an upward demand, we have witnessed a significant rise in sports tours, cultural and language immersion programmes that give the children a glimpse into the other world and help them inculcate global prospective. Recently, many architectural colleges and management colleges have also started travelling on customised itineraries including certification programmes, curriculum mapped tours with defined learning outcomes, etc,” states Alapatt. According to him analysis of consumer demand indicated that US (NASA) is the most in-demand destination for school students, Europe ranking a close second. The Far East and Middle East along with South India, Sri Lanka and the Golden Triangle have witnessed rising number of study tours in recent times.
An interesting new trend, observed by Goel is that while the science/ space themed educational trips are still popular, some schools have started taking students on art, culture and language themed tours. Cross-cultural global learning and school exchange programmes will be in demand.
It is also a myth that there is lack of opportunity for schools from Tier II / Tier III towns. “We have had children travelling with us to NASA from interior Tamil Nadu. In fact, these parents are more enthusiastic to send their children on such education travel as they feel that they have never had such opportunities and hence they need to grab it if provided,” points out Dr Kesan. She believes that the demands of the institutions and parents are always contradictory to that of a child. “The institutions wish to take children to the museums, more of sightseeing places, shopping, Indian meal, etc, whereas children prefer more of adventure activities, group interactions, meeting with professors, hands on activities, less shopping and tasting different cuisine,” she adds.
Last year, the first wine tour for the hospitality students of International Institute of Hotel Management (IIHM) was the only one-of-its-kind amongst hospitality institutes in Asia. “The students were taken to France and Italy with certified specialist of wine, sommelier Keith Edgar and wine expert Kunal Kaul. The ten days wine tour saw students exploring the wine regions of Burgundy and Champagne in France and the renowned Italian wine producing region, Tuscany, where they gained knowledge in wine making from the world known label of Principe Corsini,” states Dr Suborno Bose, chairman and chief mentor, IIHM. This September, his students will tour the wine regions of Spain and France to understand the uniqueness of each region. “I am also planning to arrange for an all expense paid Educational Single Malt and Whiskey Trail to Scotland next year with Ron Scott who has almost 35 years of experience in this field. This time there will be 10 students selected from all the IIHM campuses. I truly believe that a hands-on approach to learning inculcates more knowledge in the students,” asserts Dr Bose.
Diversified attractions
While space tourism is the most sought after international tour among schools across India, when student groups visit Florida, they also get to explore the many diversified attractions of the destination. “We realise that India is a growing travel market for Florida and the Space Coast in particular. We have real experiences for students to learn and get excited about learning,” says Eric Garvey, executive director, Florida’s Space Coast Office of Tourism. In addition to Kennedy Space Centre Visitor Complex, student groups on Florida’s Space Coast visit Eastern Florida State College Planetarium & Observatory that has a planetarium star-show theatre with hands-on activities for students, the Science Quest Exhibit Hall and evening viewing through the largest public telescope in Southeastern US. “Other attractions include Brevard Zoo in Melbourne with animals from Latin America, Africa, Australia and native Florida. Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge is a 220-square- mile area with opportunities to see 300 different species of birds, alligators and manatees. The American Police Hall of Fame & Museum in Titusville preserves law enforcement history with early equipment and firearms, a crime scene to test your skills at figuring out who did what and over 10,000 artifacts from law enforcement,” informs Garvey, pointing out that the Dinosaur Store on Cocoa Beach is the only science and nature store of its kind in the world featuring authentic fossils, meteorites, dinosaur teeth and minerals.
The highlights of tours of the Kennedy Space Centre Visitor Complex are the Space Shuttle Atlantis Exhibit, Shuttle Launch Experience, lunch with an astronaut, Journey to Mars and the Apollo/ Saturn V Centre. “Kennedy Space Centre Visitors Complex has many programmes designed to meet the education needs of the student group market in India. Camp KSC International is a three-day programme designed for students to experience, imagine and interact through space shuttle mission simulations, tours of Kennedy Space Centre and participating in everyday challenges faced by astronauts,” says Andrea Farmer, senior communications manager, Kennedy Space Centre Visitor Complex, adding that students get to see the place where America’s space programme was born and continues to grow today. They tour behind the scenes, see real, flown spacecraft like Space Shuttle Atlantis, touch a moon rock and meet a veteran NASA astronaut.