‘Tourism is a one-stop-shop for rural development’

While heading back to his homeland India from France, Steve Borgia had only one thing on his mind, “love for the country and its people”. But he was unsure on what to do once he was there. While pondering on the same, Borgia realised that the country has been focussing on urban development and infrastructure and the broken backbone of Indian villages became his concern where 30 per cent of the Indian population resides. “I travelled to remote rural areas in the early 90s and what I saw there forced me to establish businesses in the rural pockets. Forget poverty and hunger but unequal opportunities among children concerned me. Therefore, I thought of a business that would go to the people. Start with what they know, have and do. I narrowed down to tourism as it is the one-stop-shop and a socio-economic tool for rural development,” he shares. And this objective led to the birth of INDeco, India Ecology.

GIVING BACK TO SOCIETY

Borgia, Founder Chairman and Managing Director of INDeco Group of Hotels at Swamimalai and Yercaud, believes the businesses that do not offer benefits to the local communities are not fair. Today, INDeco has changed the lives and the lifestyle of numerous people and Kumbakonam in Thanjavur district of Tamil Nadu is a classic example of what tourism can do to a place. “We married the tourists’ expectations with the Indian emotions that now survives mainly in our villages. We are happy connecting the two. Tourism in India is all about experiences and emotions. While INDeco hotels offer the infrastructure, the village communities offer the activities, emotions and experiences in the most rustic, raw form with all the emotions,” explains Borgia. He shares the example of guests wanting to learn to ride a bullock cart. “INDeco directly links them to its certified bullock-cart vendors. These communities also teach the tourists to dance, sing, cook, climb coconut trees, wear Indian dhotis and saris and visit markets,” he shares.

INDeco Hotels Swamimalai

INDeco not only houses people but is home to flora and fauna, making it truly distinctive in Nature. Borgia feels the Earth does not belong to humans alone and it is the faith of coexistence for all creations. “The mix of flora, fauna, Nature etc is the exact composition in which our hotels are created. If a bulbul can come, lay eggs in one of the trees, hatch them and fly with its little one, and if you can sensitise the guests to respect such an event, we are through. That’s exactly us and our mission. We need to stop the habit of most people. Nature and culture tremble where they pass,” he says.

INDeco Nature Resort A BLUSALZ Rural Luxury, Yercaud

GREAT CORONA ESCAPE

What sets apart   INDeco from the rest of the brands is its philosophy to be amid Nature and its being. And in these uncertain times, this is what today’s travellers are attracted towards. Be it a staycation, workcation or wedding, they want to be closer to Nature. Borgia says everyone used to work from swanky offices but Corona drove us all back to our homes which is so depressing. “INDeco offers a special invitation to set guests on a unique rhythm and offer a space to work from. Here, they manifest their work like a guru,” shares Borgia.

INDeco Hotels Swamimalai

Not just a coffee to stimulate, INDeco’s Lake Forest Hotel offers an entire coffee plantation on the lake at Yercaud in Shevroyan Hills near Salem. With add-ons of clouds and mountains that become the roof and pine hugging silver oaks as the neighbours, INDeco hotels seems they were created for a pandemic escape. Following proper guidelines of social distancing and maintaining hygiene and safety measures, Borgia adds, “Both our hotels served food that your tongue will twist for. People worked in acres and acres of pristine Nature which is exactly what and how they needed. INDeco, as an organisation, is committed to its guests at all times.”

Room, INDeco Hotels Swamimalai

Steering the conversation towards weddings, Borgia exclaims, “INDeco should be the dreamland of weddings.” Be it royal, rustic, rural, or romantic, the Group has the ability to create an ambience for the guests. Heritage, cultural or ecological, the weddings at INDeco come with a lot of grandeur. “Dream it and we will create it. The wedding at INDeco will not only be unique and personal, it would be one of the very best you would have experienced for a long time. The events and ceremonies will be spirited and colourful, all filled with intense emotions. INDeco hotels is a one-stop shop for a dream wedding,” he promises.

Room, INDeco Lake Forest Hotel Yercaud

Having worked with UNICEF, Borgia learned the art of surviving in a crisis and tells us that very cautiously, he started enjoying guiding INDeco through this wave of Corona. It was not only to escape the pandemic medically but also socially and economically, he shares, adding, “When the Government asked us to shut down the hotel, we did so. But when 50 pax weddings were permitted, we quickly transformed our hotels into wedding halls. And built a couple of more mandaps. When the Government objected to the use of swimming pools, we transformed them into fish ponds and harvested tonnes of fish for the local market. We grew veggies in every square bit of space in our hotels. We did a lot of things to survive happily with the local communities.”

Interestingly, while the pandemic stopped the inbound tourist flow and to an extent the domestic market too witnessed the same, it has created a new segment called “neighbourhood tourism”. Borgia explains, “We left nothing to chance and launched a campaign called ‘Love Thy Neighbour’ which campaigned for the neighbours to come and experience our hospitality, pay for food and alone and drop whatever they want in the tip box for the rooms. We called that ‘Pay As You Like’ and through that we earned enough tips to be able to pay our staff month after month. And now, our immediate neighbours from the same town have come to stay with us with friends and are paying the published tariff. This doubled our occupancy and created a post-pandemic rush.”

MUSEUM HOTELS

Another unique thing about INDeco hotels is their in-built museums that strive to source, acquire, research and exhibit objects of the immediate past for future generations. Of the belief that “what is tourism without museums”, Borgia visions to have a museum in every hotel. He optimistically says, “We even contemplated calling INDeco a Museum Hotel.”

INDeco Lake Forest Hotel Yercaud

Every hotel of the Group contains an Indian heritage museum where objects such as a 1000-year-old pin or the first aircraft that landed in the Madras Presidency are placed. Borgia shares that their museum fascinates people across the globe. “Hundreds of videos are already on the Youtube. Our museums are famous globally yet the objects here are very regional. They talk about stories of immediate past. We not only have museums in our hotel, we have organisations to create museums. We loan flash gifts and valuable, rare objects to such museums.” The recently opened world-class Tamil Nadu Police Museum is a classic example that the 63-year-old compassionate owner of INDeco gave in support. 

Borgia’s personal mission is to create 20 world-class museums to benefit the public, especially the tourists and the younger generation. “I have created seven and I have a long way to go before I sleep but I’m sure to get there,” he avers.

ROADMAP AHEAD

Change, the only constant, remains at the top of everyone’s mind nowadays. The pandemic has led us all in a different direction altogether. Borgia feels we will have to learn to swim with a post-pandemic current and flow with its wind. Talking about his future plans, he says, “INDeco will move from Experiential Tourism to Regenerative Tourism. Projects will be set in rural regions and involve local communities. Surely, we will curate Nature in the most authentic manner.”

INDeco Hotels Swamimalai

INDeco has already launched the product called The Last Resort: For Human Wonderment. It is not Borgia’s last resort project but surely will be the last one for mankind and its survival, explains Borgia, adding that it will reflect all lessons learned during the pandemic. “Nothing is late. Nothing is early. Nothing is terrible or terrifying. Our preparedness to change and to change is much pivoted to our joy and survival,” he concludes.