For Priya Florence Shah, a 40-year-old Internet publisher, her last vacation to Kashid near Mumbai was extra special as she could take along her seven-month-old pet Labrador. All thanks to a pet-friendly holiday package. Such packages, already popular abroad, are fast catching up in India, just like pet shops, which are now found in every nook and corner of metros.
Mumbai-based PetVacations, which was started two years back, witnessed its holiday package bookings triple last year?around 1,500 domestic holiday packages were booked by families travelling with their pets. This number is above the 500-pet relocations its subsidiary company Furry Flyers did.
Says Anupama Vinayak, owner of PetVacations and an international pet travel consultant, ?Though many families want to take their pets on vacations, lack of pet-friendly hotels and facilities in the country spoil plans for many. We provide end-to-end services and have convinced some hotels and resorts to let pets check in. The demand is definitely quite high.? The company also arranges pet-friendly cab services and other transport systems. In India, Air India, Jet Airways and SpiceJet allow pets to travel in cargo or to be carried as extra baggage. In trains, a pet can be taken only in the first class coupe.
Similarly, Mahindra Homestays, which has around 60 pet-friendly homestay accommodation units, has also reported a growing number of enquiries and bookings. Business head of Mahindra Homestays, Vimla Dorairaju, says: ?We started pet-friendly homestays, essentially farms and bungalows, around two years back. The number of enquiries has gone up in the past one year for such accommodation.?
Benitta Ganesh, owner of Goa-based Arco Iris, a bed and breakfast establishment, says that bookings have been pouring in ever since they started one-and-a-half-year back. Most travellers holidaying prefer homestays as they can use the kitchen to prepare pet food.
Vinayak of PetVacations points out that not many hotels are comfortable allowing pets, and even those that allow pets don?t want to advertise it, fearing loss of clientele. Also, while many hotels and resorts do not charge extra for pets, some do charge ?extra child? charges, usually in the bracket of Rs 1,000-2,000. Of course, it comes with a price tag, but it?s worth it if you know you don?t have to leave your pooch in the kennel.
In Europe and the US, the concept of pet holidays is quite popular and there are a number of dog inns and even dog restaurants. In fact, in the US, there is an exclusive pet airline, PetAirways, in which pets travel in the cabin (with temperature and pressure adjusted accordingly) and not as a baggage.
Interestingly, looking at the growing pet economy in India and problems that pet holidayers face, start-ups are being planned around it. Take for example, Bangalore-based corporate trainer Anand Murthy, who is currently working on a dog resort in Ooty branded as The Spaw. The resort, which will have facilities like plunge pools for dogs, dog landing area, luxurious kennels and a pet clinic spread over 44 acres, is scheduled to open next year.
?When I used to travel with my dogs, a St Bernard and a Labrador, I realised that there is a dearth of pet-friendly resorts in the country and many which claim to be pet-friendly don?t really have facilities for dogs. After studying the market I learnt that there are definitely many families who are always on the lookout to spend time with their pets. So, I planned this resort for dog lovers,? says Murthy. The resort is being developed in partnership with a Bangalore-based construction company Total Environments.
As per estimates, there are around 2.2 million pet dogs owned by Indian households, and their population is increasing by 26% every year. With pet economy booming in the country and pet lovers splurging on pet food, accessories, clothes and pet salons, the trend of pet-friendly travel products, too, is also set to grow, believe industry heads.