Tukai tourism
The foundation of tourism is the human tendency to spend happy moments in nature and understand art and culture. Social tourism has gained equal importance in addition to religious and historical tourism. The concept of tourism is not limited any more to Diwali, Christmas or Summer holidays. The tourist travels whenever he wants to. The traveller visits to see nature in Maharashtra, hill stations, but also likes to visit the personalities doing social work in remote places. The attraction for remote locations is on the rise as against hill stations or crowded places. The use of social media and technology is growing, and the work of social reformers is getting noticed and appreciated. Therefore, the visits to remote places are increasing in number.
We owe it to our community. They both felt that we must do something for the society, because of which we exist. This idea gave birth to ‘Tukai tourism.’ This is the success story of Sumit Kotgire and Suraj Deshmukh. To survive in this glamorous and wide competitive tourism market, they both chose social tourism. There is a story behind ‘Tukai’. When Suraj was studying in college, his hobby was to travel. He has also toured on his bicycle. Once Suraj was travelling to Dehu with his friends on a bicycle. The friends were discussing among themselves about the name of their company, and they decided on the name ‘Tukai’. They chose this name as it had a local flavour.
Sumit is from Loha of Nanded Taluka. He came to Pune to complete his education after 10th. His mother is a teacher. She wanted Sumit to stay in Loha till he completes his education, but Sumit wanted to come to Pune and learn and do something different, he came here with that ambition. He took admission in Fergusson College for further education and completed B.Sc.
Suraj is from Beed. His grandfather and father are teachers. His education started at home, even before entering school. He completed his school education from Central Government’s Navodaya Vidyalaya.
He used the state of the art library during this time. National level newspapers, magazines were available in school for their reading. They got introduced to computers and technology in grade sixth and seventh. They got a lot of exposure in the school itself. He decided to take further education in Pune. The family supported this decision. He got admission in Sir Parshurambhau Vidyalaya. He completed B.Sc. from there. They both stayed in the same hostel, i.e. Vidyarthee Sahayak Samitee during their education. They got to know each other there. It is compulsory here for students to participate in the ‘earn and learn’ scheme.
They were both working in different places. They knew each other well since they were staying in the same hostel. Jagruti Seva Sanstha arranges Jagruti Yatra every year for the entrepreneurs across the country. One could get a chance to meet the leading and successful businessmen during this Yatra. Suraj did this Yatra and got a chance to meet people from Tata Business Group. Also, he got a chance to visit the ‘Gunj’ Sanstha of Ramon Magsaysay Award winner Anshu Gupta. Taking inspiration from this journey, he decided to start his own business. Once it was decided, the planning started accordingly.
When they were thinking of options for their business, the tourism area attracted them the most. Suraj was the student head when they were staying in Vidyarthee Vasatigruh. A student came there to stay there. He was associated with the work of Baba Amte, Prakash Amte. His father was working with Prakash Amte for the last 44 years. Suraj got to know about the work of the Amte family, Hemalkasa, Anandvan from him. He met Aniket Amte, who is the management head of Lokbiradari Prakalp of Amte family. This association became stronger. Aniket Amte suggested in the meanwhile that the institution needs funds and volunteers. If urban people cannot come to the institutions, the institutions must come to the people. In the Lok Biradari project, patients in the periphery of 100 Kilometer come there to get treatment. The infrastructure is not enough. There is a lot of work. People from Pune who were in contact with Aniket Amte decided to meet and help the cause. They decided to arrange a photo exhibition of this project.
An exhibition was organized at Yashwantrao Chavan Sabhagruha in Pune showcasing photographs of Lok Biradari Project, hand-made objects made from Bamboo, books written on projects and the Amte family. The exhibition got a good response. Aniket Amte and some volunteers used to visit Pune during this time and meetings with them were ongoing. There was an informal group of people working for this cause. It still exists. The group offers financial and also spreads awareness about the projects.
The Pune volunteers made presentations of various projects in schools, colleges, multiple societies. The presentation included information about Baba Amte, Anandvan, Hemalkasa, their work, the growing work of these projects, and how people can help the projects. This fetched them some money. This money was then sent to the projects. They also organized various fundraising programs. Suraj was involved in this too. In 2019 they organized a trip of the hostel of Vidyarthee Sahayak Samiti to Anandvan, Hemalkasa. Suraj was the student’s head, so he was involved in organizing it. He took 85 people with him to Hemalkasa. Gadchiroli is a very remote and undeveloped part of India. Suraj did not have any information about it. He faced questions like: How does one go there, by which road, what preparation is required, which transport will be required, etc. It was not easy to take a trip of 85 people to such a remote place. But he completed this trip successfully.
They met a lot of earnest people during this period who had heard about the work of Amte and also their projects and had read books written about Amte family and their work. During the fundraising programs and presentation, people told them that they know about the Amte family and their work, but we would like to meet him. Let us know if someone can take us there. Suraj started thinking about it when a lot of people asked about it. Suraj was connected with these projects in one way or another.
They knew about the environment and the project work in detail. They thought, instead of sending the people to another tour operator, why don’t we organize such tours? And the special tours of Tukai Tourism thus came into being. A student could afford his food bill for a month after working for 25 days under the ‘earn and learn’ scheme. They thought, if we take four tours instead of working for 25 days, we can manage the food bill for a month. This is how they started their business in the real sense. Tukai tourism conducted its first social tour in 2012 on a no profit-no loss basis.
They have not taken any formal training in travel and tourism. They did not have any knowledge about facilities to be given to the tourists during the tour, the actual planning of the tour, the arrangements of tourists, and so on. They were experts in talking about projects, but they lacked in giving services to tourists. They got information about it from tourists who came with Tukai to Hemalkasa. The majority of people taking up social tours were senior citizens, pensioners, well-settled people. They used to guide Suraj and Sumit and gave information about facilities and arrangements. Learning from these Tukai tours have got acclaim in arranging social tours.
‘Aranyasparsh’ is the name of the tour to Anandvan. After the release of the film Prakash Baba Amte, awareness and respect about the work of the Amte family have increased manifold. The number of people visiting this place has grown. Till now there are 4500 to 5000 satisfied customers of Tukai Tourism.
They got expert advice from various fields. These specialists help the Amte family projects in one or other after paying a visit to Hemalkasa. Some people support financially, and some donate things, some offer physical help. This helps the institutions working in the remote, Adivasi places. This means the feeling of giving back to society is still alive in people. The tourists come to know after visiting such places that their donation is being used properly. This helps voluntary organizations a lot.
Tukai got requests from people to visit some specific tour destinations. Later, Tukai tourism also started offering commercial tours in addition to social tours. Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Kashmir, Rajasthan, Chitrakoot are also popular tour destinations of Tukai. Tukai has also organized a few more tours to places in India and abroad. Tukai also successfully organizes 1 or 2-day tours like ‘Kasav Mahotsav’ and also organizes international tours with the same zeal. Social tour destinations of Tukai are also Melghat, Khandesh, Mid Maharashtra etc. Every month Tukai organises 5 to 8 tours. The social tours include visits to the popular tourist attractions in that place. Tourists going to Anandvan can also enjoy the ‘Tadoba’ jungle safari.
Suraj offers a piece of advice for the newcomers in this profession. He says, ‘ The Sky is the limit.’ But the concept of social tourism is new. So, business people should grab the opportunity. More the tours to these social institutions, the more it is going to help the social cause. Social institutions will get backing. Even if tours are organized to these places, the social institutions benefit from them. Capital is not a very big issue while starting this business. This business can be run even in an area of 150 to 200 sq. ft. There is also no need to take any formal education. Those with a strong sense of social commitment and awareness can start this business.
Originally Published in Yashashwi Udyojak. Subscribe Today.
