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Ethical and Inspirational Holidays in India
Claire Prest, co-founder of Grass routes
Claire Prest has lived and worked in the Indian Subcontinent since 2000. More significantly she has travelled its length and breadth and quite simply fallen in love with the place.. In honour of this irrefutable bond and in gratitude of the countless people who have shared their genuine hospitality, she co-founded Grass Routes.
The premise of that business is to provide fantastic holidays for travellers whilst enabling them to engage with local communities by working in partnership with local people. In fact, Claire’s company does the best of both worlds, it provides a unique experience for holiday makers, whilst at the same time encouraging responsible tourism.
Proving that not all successful businesses have vast amounts of venture capital behind them, Claire and her co-founder and husband Pulak Mohanty pooled together their savings to set-up the business. They have been able to sustain themselves, their staff and provide a subsidiary income for numerous rural and tribal communities.
Working as a business woman in India is not, however, without its challenges. Therefore Grass Routes is keen to encourage female participation in the travel industry, whilst also remaining respectful to the local culture and traditions. Claire says; “Unfortunately in India few women are involved in the tourism industry (except for cottage industries). There is still a lot of stigma attached to befriending foreigners, which is a real shame. We encourage women to participate and often enjoy their culinary skills in rural villages! Funnily enough its in tribal and rural villages where we find the strongest women. Urban centres can’t cope with the rapid change.”
And what does the next year hold for Grass Routes? Claire says “We are looking forward to strengthening our ties with the local communities. We will soon be heading out to conduct our annual meetings and bounce around ideas for improvements or further development. We are also designing a cycling itinerary and tying up with different associations for more overland adventures.”
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Good writing. Keep up the good work. I just added your RSS feed my Google News Reader..
Matt Hanson
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