We need to promote responsible and green travel. | Varun Godia, Manager – Product Development, Varun WorldWide Vacations

Primary motivator to pursue your professional goals in the travel and tourism sector? Motivations for choosing a career path are often hard to tease out, but for me it started really early- I was inspired by my parents who started our family travel company in the year of my birth. I studied law and business, and enjoyed writing and travelling in my free time. Being able to apply my entrepreneurship skills to a sector which involved new places, people, food, culture and adventure was the perfect fit! An observation you have made about the industry, either challenge or an opportunity? The ability to travel has never been more accessible to people than it is today. It is amazing to see people who would never have dreamed of seeing the world now travelling far and wide. This presents itself as a great opportunity to the Indian domestic as well as outbound markets, especially in the Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities where Low Cost Carriers are now making their presence felt. Vision for the business? Adapt & Empower. With the fast paced advent of technology and a more educated market, the travel industry is changing rapidly. It is both a challenging and exciting time to be in the travel industry as agents seek new ways to promote and expand their businesses. Instead of complaining about how technology has impacted our businesses we try and invest our time in figuring out how to use this technology to our advantage. My mother, our director, has always focused on empowering the youth. Through teaching travel and tourism in her spare time to training unskilled workers to run operations she has given this industry one of their biggest assets – people. I wish to continue this endeavour to empower people with the skills required to be successful in the travel industry. Technology has a substantial game changer. Comment. Technology has been more of a boon than a curse when it comes to the travel industry. It provides easier access to travel services and occasionally better rates, but it has taken away one of the travel communities greatest strengths – interaction. There is something magical about interacting with someone who is passionate about their work and builds the excitement about their product (this could apply to any industry). That said, it is phenomenal how some of the travel tech entrepreneurs have set up such flourishing businesses. We need to appreciate them for what they have done and take it up as a challenge to get one up on them. Gen Nxt thought? Travel is awe inspiring and to keep it such we need to promote responsible and green travel. Keep our carbon footprint in check, make sure we travel sustainably and raise awareness about this with our clients to ensure that the generations to come can experience the wonders of this Earth!]]>