Indian silvers are redefining retirement by discovering the thrill of travelling. Embracing new horizons and even taking some adventurous risks, these women and men are choosing to travel as a passion, not a pastime. Rachna Virdi profiles the footloose senior and examines the paradigm shift

The Singh household is buzzing with excitement. Suitcases packed, visas stamped and hotel bookings locked, the excited silver couple is all set for their vacation to Sri Lanka. And this isn’t their first international vacation. “Our first trip was to Bahrain after our son relocated there for work,” says Paramjit Singh. “The experience was a great confidence booster and prompted us to spread our wings. Our secure finances and the extra time we had encouraged us to explore other destinations. Then, we realised there were other seniors who shared our passion, so we started travelling with groups. It lifts our spirits and gives us a fresh lease of life.”

The 63 year-old Chandigarh resident is not familiar with the term ‘seenager’ (senior teenager) even though it’s a word being used to describe trippy seniors with a bad case of wanderlust—just like the Singhs! What’s more, the travel bug is highly contagious and, happily, more and more silvers in India are succumbing.

Indeed, silver nomads have already become an important area of interest with potential for growth in the travel industry and tour operators have witnessed a sharp rise in the travel trend since the turn of the century. Thomas Thottathil, head of corporate communications for Cox and Kings, a leading tour operator in India, seconds this “Our senior citizen travel is increasing by a minimum of 15 per cent, year on year,” he says. Meanwhile, a representative from Veena World, another prominent travel player in the country, tells us that silver travellers account for a sizeable chunk of their business. Ever since the company was established in 2013, it has had 18,854 silver travellers in India and 16,045 to other destinations across the world.

Bucking the stereotype

These footloose, new-age silvers are retired and loving it! Unlike earlier, when travel largely meant an annual visit to their native village or a religious pilgrimage, silvers are letting their hair down in exotic destinations, often in groups, soaking in the surroundings and creating colourful memories.

But why are Indian elders suddenly developing itchy feet? “More and more seniors are financially secure and keen to indulge in leisure travel,” responds Suchana Shah, director of The Villa Escape, a Mumbai-based bespoke holiday specialist. “Often, their children sponsor their trips. Flexible time schedules and improved health and fitness levels are other contributing factors. Believe it or not, our tour to the Northern Lights in Iceland has seen major growth with seniors in the past couple of years.”

According to Rahul Gupta, CEO of Gurgaon-based www.SeniorWorld.com, a platform that caters to the travel needs of seniors, “Travel is as much about self-discovery as it is about exploration. Seniors are redefining the notion of retirement and are travelling in greater numbers to all parts of the world to discover themselves and gather new experiences.”

One of the most important factors for the surge in silver travel is a larger disposable retirement corpus. With their children now independent, they are financially secure and have better purchasing power. Also, with their children living away from them, longer life expectancy and widespread early retirement, silvers are placing a premium on quality of life.

Travelling is thus being viewed as a way to enjoy one’s time, not just bide it. Mumbai resident Kamaldeep Singh Pawar, 61, says that after retirement, he took his first international trip to Singapore last year. “Long ago, I had read that the secret of genius is to carry the spirit of a child into old age,” he says. “So I decided to relive my young and carefree days and set off on my first international trip. Of course, my family was worried about my safety, comfort and availability of vegetarian food, but those concerns were taken care of. The country I went to as well as the tour was very senior-friendly and I came back rejuvenated.”

And 63 year-old Asha Saraswathy from Bengaluru recently made her dream of visiting Ladakh come true. “Very few people believed I could take the trip at my age,” she reveals. “Not only did I attempt it, I also made a few wonderful friends. Age was something to worry about at high altitudes but the tour operator’s instructions on how to keep ourselves oxygenated kept us healthy and cheerful throughout.”

Silver-friendly destinations you may like to visit…

OVERSEAS
Singapore: Hotel discounts for silvers, accessible public transport
Hong Kong: Silver discounts in travel and transportation, wheelchair accessibility
Thailand: Safe, inexpensive, accommodating culture
New Zealand: Welcoming towards silvers with discounts and benefits
South Africa: Good infrastructure and modern medical facilities

IN INDIA
Kerala: Calm and relaxing locale
Rajasthan: Old-world charm, tranquil
Gujarat: Popular pilgrimage destinations

Made to order

When a significantly larger number of silvers start travelling, it gives tour operators an opportunity to customise vacations for this new demographic and make a neat profit.
Sangita Bhattarcharya, CEO and founder of 50+ Voyagers Travel and Adventure Club, says that where senior travel in India was once focused mainly on pilgrimages or a very short, dog-eared list of tried-and-tested destinations, today’s silvers maintain a bucket list of places they would like to visit. The Bengaluru-based travel company conducts all-inclusive group tours for people over the age of 50 to domestic and international destinations.

The club’s market research has shown that while some travel firms conducted tours aimed specifically at seniors, individual attention, exclusivity and an enthralling experience were often missing. This led Bhattarcharya to launch her initiative. “Happiness is U-shaped, being at its highest in the young and old and bottoming out in middle age,” she points out. “Fifty-plus is an age where the happiness curve starts moving upwards and people start rediscovering old hobbies.” She takes the fun quotient very seriously. “Adventure plays a significant role in senior travel. In one of our recent tours to Goa, we had a 69 year-old woman parasailing. We’ve also had a 75 year-old traveller horse-riding in Pahalgam in Kashmir and a group of 65 to 72 year-old travellers dancing to the beat of Naga drums and folk music during the Hornbill Festival in Nagaland.”

Then there’s the well-heeled, leisure traveller, aching to be pampered. For these silvers, beach holidays at expensive resorts and exclusive cruises are popular choices with ‘luxury’ being the watchword. Mumbai-based S Chaitanya, 55, went for a five-day Andaman cruise with her friends last year. “I had a fantastic time on the cruise,” she says. “The royal suite, personalised attention, pampering spa treatments, relaxing time and other facilities on board were luxury at its best.”

Travel checklist

• Travel time: Avoid peak travel season if you can, while also keeping an eye on the weather.
• Travel insurance: While health insurance is must for international travel, it is advisable to buy domestic travel insurance too, to avoid cancelling a trip owing to a sudden illness.
• Medication & health: Before travelling, get a health check-up and discuss your itinerary with your doctor, from the health and difficulty perspective. When travelling overseas, carry a prescription of your medicines, if any, and their equivalent names in that country.
• Accessibility: If climbing stairs is a problem, ask your tour operator to assign you a room on the ground floor. Also tell them of any special dietary needs.
• Travel light: This is an important one. In many international destinations, porterage is expensive and you may end up carrying your own luggage!

Silver-friendly vacations

Positioning tours for silvers means taking care of details that can make or break a holiday for this demographic. Whether it’s the pace of the itinerary, type of places to see, hotels, transport or food, tour planners are wooing elders by paying attention to their special demands and needs. “Our seniors-only tours are comfortable and slow-paced, with thoughtfully planned itineraries that allow them to explore, yet breathe,” says Gupta of www.SeniorWorld.com. “With this, they can have fun and entertainment as well as enough time to soak in the surroundings. The joy of holidays is in experiencing the unique things that make each place special and doing it with like-minded explorers.”

Some travel agencies offer specially curated trips where silvers are guided through potentially anxious moments, like checking in, immigration, navigating massive airports and managing the local language. Agencies like these have friendly tour captains who accompany silvers from the point of departure up to the point of arrival. Sometimes, trip planners also ensure medical facilities are available, including a first-aid box, a set of over-the-counter medicines and a doctor to assist in first-aid care.

Bhattarcharya of 50+ Voyagers says her company approaches silvers with kid gloves and ensures it covers the gamut of clients’ concerns. “We’ve had travellers as old as 78 and those who’ve undergone critical operations like bypass surgery,” she shares. “We highlight the activity level of each tour to enable members to decide and prepare. We also issue guidelines well before the tour starts so participants are mentally and physically prepared. We even advise against certain options when the need arises.”

Bengaluru-based Roopa Swami, 60, travelled to Bhutan with 50+ Voyagers. “The six days of sheer exhilaration helped me discover my latent potential and strength of body and mind,” she recounts. “It motivated me to walk, hike and indulge in adventure activities I never knew I could do. Understanding that seniors usually have some issues, the tour was conducted at a relaxed and slow space, ensuring safety and ample time to complete every activity.”

Suchana Shah of The Villa Escape adds that when they have seniors on board, they share dos and don’ts with them; help them meet their dietary needs; and provide information about facilities and medical assistance along with keeping constantly in touch with them during the tour. This instils confidence and makes them feel safe.

It is this attention to detail that made a recent trip to the Northeast truly memorable for Noida-based Manmohan Sharan, 76, a cancer patient, and his wife Shabnam, 70, who suffers from diabetes, arthritis and spondylitis. After much debate, the couple decided to take the plunge with www.SeniorWorld.com. “It is never easy for us to plan a vacation owing to my husband’s health,” says Shabnam. “This was the first trip for us after four years. One night, during our stay in Pelling [Sikkim], my husband developed palpitations and started shivering. I called up the hotel reception and when no one answered the phone, I contacted the tour team, who promptly came to our room and arranged for immediate medical attention. The trip has once again instilled in us the confidence to travel despite our medical issues.”

Disability no bar

Planet Abled, based in Gurgaon, goes a step further and plans trips for inclusive travel. Its clients are the differently abled, including silvers, in need of special assistance. “For seniors, we take extra medical care and precautions for any contingencies that might arise,” says founder Neha Arora. “We review their medical history and make sure they carry a complete set of medicines. We also ensure the tour itinerary is loosely bound so they are not tired or exhausted. In addition, we have staff specially trained in being sensitive towards the differently abled.”

Her venture has been an eye-opener for Arora as much as it is for her clients. “There was a 70 year-old wheelchair-bound woman who asked us to organise a rafting and diving session for her. And there was an equally elderly gentleman who spent most of his retirement corpus on travelling the world. When his wife asked me for adventure sports during travel, I was taken aback,” admits Arora, whose company has had about 10 physically challenged seniors as its clients, to date. And get this—some of them have been repeat customers. She affirms, “I am thoroughly convinced that a paradigm shift is happening.” So are we.

THE X-TREME TRAVELLER

Mumbai-based Deepak Amembal, 61, has a passion for biking. After retirement, when most silvers are shifting gears to a slower pace, the avid biker undertook a 72-day biking trip spanning 13,000 km. His journey took him from Mumbai to Ladakh, to Bhutan, Orissa, Kanyakumari and back.

“To make the most of my trip, I travelled through back roads as that is where the real India lies,” says the adventurous 61 year-old, who revels in the fact that in this country, every 200 km transports you to a new culture and climate. His budget travel comprised living off roads, sleeping in tents or at petrol pumps, eating at roadside dhabas and spending a nominal sum on other expenses. Of course, he maintained a regular supply of dry fruit to keep up his energy. And he managed to keep hypertension and diabetes in check with on-road medication, yoga, a strict diet regime and a stable mind.

Amembal used his retirement savings to fund his biking trip but believes he’s richer today in experience, and wouldn’t trade those 72 days for anything in the world. Respect!

Photograph by 50plusvoyagers.com, SeniorWorld.com, Planet Abled

Also read – Just Trippin’

Featured in Harmony — Celebrate Age Magazine
November 2016