Beyond the textbook

A focused and niche product in the tourism product portfolio, the potential of education tourism is so vast that whatever activity is currently happening in this space, has not even touched the tip of the iceberg – both in domestic and international segments. There have been very few Indian operators who actually understand the concept of education tourism, with little expertise to plan such trips with meticulous care so that the young minds that go for such tours return enriched with new insights about the world and life. Things are changing now with specialised focus on this segment bringing to the fore select operators with the vision and expertise to organise edu tours with a difference.

Today more and more education providers realise the need to offer learning beyond the classroom to their students. “International schools and local schools seem to be looking at more and more creative approaches to imparting practical insights into education through a ‘discover and learn’ process,” says James Ellis, director, EdVantage International Consulting. He points out that edu tours are not restricted to schools and lately many management institutes, engineering colleges, hospitality institutes and such have looked at providing education or study tours, both in local locations and overseas. Hospitality study tours can vary from visits to local farms, factories, vineyards, cheese or manufacturers of pickled, canned or bottled products, abattoirs and market places, hotels , retail world including supermarkets, warehouses and so on. “Some popular and affordable overseas locations have been Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Dubai and the UK. Though NZ, Australia, USA, Canada are preferred locations the visa availability and associated costs make study tours to these places almost impossible,” adds Ellis.

Veena Patil

Education cannot be based in classrooms, avers Veena Patil, MD, Kesari Tours. “Travelling is education for every student. We take them to Haridwar and Rishikesh for river rafting, we also take them to NASA and Switzerland. Adventure activities like rapelling and climbing are part of the tour itineraries,” she says. Patil believes that the important part of the education is not just the destination but the fact that the youngsters (mostly from seven to 17 years of age) have to become responsible for their own self, away from the watchful presence of their parents – taking care of their things, managing their emotions, time management and be a part of the team. The future will see demand for what the destinations offer – art and culture (Italy and Paris), adventure tours (Switzerland), value-for-money fun tours (Thailand), etc.

Mehernosh Deboo

A new trend has been planning the tours according to what the students are studying. Mehernosh Deboo, director and CEO, Creative Outdoor Development Education says, “Students want to visit places, which is on their syllabus. It is part of the ICSE school curriculum as part of project work. A questionnaire is also given to the students well in advance. A student does a lot of background reading. After the tour is done, students write their reports on their tour itself. Students visit destinations with strong historical backgrounds, geographical outlay, plantations regions, tribal villages etc. Students also take environment study tours, commercial study tours, etc.” He believes that student travel has changed in the country drastically. “We have to do our homework very well. Today students need to visit the parliament, study the advent of Islam in Agra, etc. Project studies have become very important in the ICSE schools and travel destinations are charted accordingly,” adds Deboo.

Manoharan Periasamy

Things have changed from the times when leisure constituted 70 per cent of the edu tour programme while education became 30 per cent of the tours. Manoharan Periasamy, director, Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board says, “We have developed a product for this segment that is nature based – educating youngsters about green earth, energy conservation, environmental protection, etc.” For instance, taking them to those areas that have been designed for those kind of products like the National Elephant Conservation Centre, Kuala Gandah or the Sepilok Orang Utan Sanctuary in Sabah. “We also encourage homestay programme for students, to expose them to the life and culture of other side of the world. We would like them to stay with those families for a day or two, go to paddy fields, do fishing, or rubber plantation during the day and attend social programmes like weddings,” adds Periasamy.

Students going to Malaysia from India for educational tourism comprise a small number and are mostly from international schools. “We have started associating ourselves with local international schools. Earlier the operators involved were not very serious as they felt that if they emphasise more on leisure, they can attract parents to send their children for these tours, but we want a shift in that as these students can always go on leisure trips with their parents but this is more about educating them. So we are partnering with few operators who are specialising more on education than leisure – talking about culture, history, environment. We believe students will be the future travellers and it will take off in a big way,” mentions Periasamy.

Global experiential learning

Vishal Verma

The past five years have shown marked growth in the educational tourism market. Gurgaon based Frontiers Edutainment offers global experiential learning programmes. Most of the programmes have a very strong learning component mixed with tourist attractions that excite students. A majority of the educational programmes are conducted at institutions like NASA space centres, Stanford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, National University of Singapore, National University of Ireland and similar. Vishal Verma, managing director, Frontiers Edutainment, says, “The awareness about international educational tours has spread rapidly to schools across India. Parents are also willing to spend on educational tours for their children. With rising incomes of parents and the willingness to spend on educational services, the potential is immense.” He believes that the segment which has a great potential for growth comprise school students between the age of 14 to 18. Students in this age bracket are mature enough to travel without their parents and are enthusiastic about new experiences. According to Verma USA, UK, France and Singapore are emerging as the key destinations mainly due to the presence of a significant number of enrichment programme providers and exciting tourist attractions in these countries. As far as India is concerned he feels products that combine strong educational content delivered by credible providers coupled with experiences that students love such as theme parks, virtual sky diving, F1 racing, etc, can be developed to cater to this segment. In the near future what will become more and more popular in the segment are student conferences such as Model UN Conferences, leadership conferences and global tournaments, where students can meet and interact with their counterparts from other countries. Some of these events can be hosted in India to attract inbound tours. “The companies operating in the educational sector are mostly start ups who are innovating to create new products and offering them to schools. Factors such as the rupee depreciation, increase in airfares, taxes and inflationary trends are posing strong challenges since most of the companies are relatively small,” mentions Verma.

Srimathy K

Chennai headquartered Space Kidz India conducts educational tours in India and overseas. To name a few – Space Camps at Florida/ Houston NASA, Euro Space Camp at Europe, London International Science Forum, London Olympics 2012, Royal Festival Hall – London, and others. Srimathy K, director, Space Kidz India has also conducted domestic tours to Kerala and Karnataka, and is planning to launch a domestic culture and language tour for school and college students. “Gone are those days where parents wanted their children to be focused only on education as a textbook study, now every parent, be it the middle income segment or high income group want their children to be multi talented. Most importantly, be exposed to the world at a younger age, and travel being the main tool for the same as seeing is believing and learning,” says Srimathy K, pointing out that she can foresee educational tourism boom over all other tourism products. She asserts that to encourage inbound tours for this segment it is imperative to encourage student exchange programmes, invite foreign students to explore the Indian culture/ food/ fashion because the young use social media to constantly update their status minute to minute, and when they get to visit a country they promote it effectively. She believes that the important products that can be developed in India for this segment should be a combination of Indian tradition, art, culture, language and gastronomy that should be offered to the second generation Indians all over the world.

While schools also look at student exchange programmes or international learning projects, but this has been more successful one way with Indian students going overseas to Germany, Singapore, UK, etc but not many foreign students are coming to India. “Sadly this is due to the perception about India in terms of poverty, safety, corruption and so on. Parents of children overseas are not confident that their children will be safe on a trip to India,” states Ellis. According to him some of the factors that contribute to this negative impact or impediment to further growth of education tourism in India are- excessive formalities for permissions to tourist locations, theft, fraud and cheating, untrained guides, poor administration and management, lack of proper infrastructure at tourist locations, lack of financial support, too many agents and operators making the offerings costly and at times unprofessional.

Exploring the real India

Domestic tours conducted for students in India are mostly sightseeing trips organised by schools with an operator who gives the lowest possible quotes. Beulah Kolhatkar, director, India Educational Tours has been focused on changing that by offering educational tours with a difference. The subjects are wide ranging and truly experiential –

1. Social justice – rights of the Child, HIV/AIDS and the stigma attached to it, trafficking of minors for sexual exploitation, women’s rights.
2. The environment – the space we live in, sustainable development, including issues such as man vs animal, management of natural resources.
3. Social health issues – nutrition, immunisation, sanitation; water- its sources, storage and usage; recycling and garbage management; alternative forms of power – wind, waves, solar, bio-diesel etc; agriculture- bio-dynamic farming, ‘Jaivik Krishi’, organic foods, seed banks and soil management, etc.

India Educational Tours custom designs field trips for clients when required. They also liaise with existing institutions which are exemplary in their own field of education and growth, eg Amul and their community development programmes in Gujarat; CRHP (Comprehensive Rural Health Project) Jamkhed, Maharashtra; HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Limited) and the Aeronautical Society of India, Karnataka; ‘Snehalaya’, Ahmednagar, Maharashtra; NCAOR (National Center for Antarctic and Ocean Research), Vasco-da-Gama, Goa. “The growth of the wine industry in India would also be an eye- opener as it incorporates the use of soil, water, air, commerce, laws of India and the role of the Indian entrepreneur. Music field trips to promote the appreciation and understanding of music in India as a tradition, a living art-form, a growing medium and a professional practise could be an exciting possibility,” mentions Kolhatkar.

There great potential in the domestic market for this segment – both among school and college going students, believes Kolhatkar. “It is in the hope of introducing young people to be the change they want to see that I left my static classroom and put it on wheels called India Educational Tours. Children learn faster than adults and come up with innovative ideas that jaded adults could not even imagine to exist. Above all, if Indians began to understand each other better, there will be less parochialism and alienation. Adults with these parochial ideas will inevitably pass them on to their offspring, and teachers like me are asked to fix the problem. I sincerely believe that this process must start at home first. We need a little less of ‘us and them’ and more of ‘we’,” she asserts.

India Educational Tours has concentrated on children and young people as they will be the future citizens and lead the world. There are many European, African and American colleges that send their students to do electives periods, practicum projects, PhDs, Fulbright Scholarships etc, in India. Student exchange programmes can go a long way in attracting inbound education tourism in India. “Children all over the world can learn about each other and help demystify the West and the East,” states Kolhatkar.

The important products that can be developed for the segment are -a study of agriculture, organic farming, change in modern eating habits, food security and GM foods; a tour to look at water conservation, dams and rivers and their management; a trip to Himachal Pradesh to study what the Jaypee Group has done with technology to harness the power of the northern, glacier-fed rivers, and what these projects promise as a solution to India’s power requirements. “It is also time to teach young people to share their own musical traditions. Most schools find it hard to set up a music department, it can be an expensive business. Music classes for children who would like to learn how to play a musical instrument or to sing, possibly funded by our visitors, an avenue by which children learn and understand each other’s differences better. The children will lead the way,” adds Kolhatkar, pointing out that a tour on train wheels, to study the history of the Indian Railways has always been her dream – India is after all the only country that still has rolling stock of every kind of train and track the world has ever invented.

(With inputs from Reema Lokesh)