HolidayIQ, one of India’s largest travel and holiday information portal, very recently signed a Memorandum of Association (MOU) with The Indian National Trust for Arts and Culture Heritage (INTACH), to jointly identify “Next Big Heritage Destination” in India for 2017. The companies are aiming to identify at least one lesser-known Indian Heritage Destination (living, built, or natural), with significant potential for tourism.
The destination will be selected through a nationwide contest on the HolidayIQ web portal, where Indian travelers will be asked to identify heritage destinations and share their views via reviews, images and videos. The campaign to identify the “Next Heritage Destination” will be spread over a period of three months, starting September 2016. The Winning Heritage Destination will be selected by a joint jury of INTACH and HolidayIQ and this is culminate with an award ceremony to honor the winner.
Dr. (Mrs.) CT Misra, Member Secretary, INTACH said, “INTACH has been a pioneer in conserving and protecting India’s natural and cultural heritage. It is our aim to initiate innovative ideas in not only preserving but also promoting the cultural heritage of the country. Our MoU with HolidayIQ therefore seeks to reiterate our commitment by seeking to identify a heritage destination through the views of the Indian traveler and then offer support to the site from INTACH through next year in 2017.”
While Hari Nair — CEO and Founder, HolidayIQ told the Guardian 20, “INTACH (Indian National Trust for Art & Culture) is the premier non-governmental agency working on Heritage in India. A big part of their remit is to identify heritage sites in India that can be made ‘living’ sites instead of the ‘protected’ (which means ‘dead’) status that Archaeology Survey of India converts them into. As India’s first & largest traveller community, there is an opportunity for HolidayIQ to support this work and bring a greater number of India’s heritage to our travellers’ notice. This MOU is for a specific campaign to involve Indian travellers in a big way to identify the “Next Big Heritage Destination” of India.”
He further added, “This is a major milestone in HolidayIQ’s evolution as the leading voice of Indian tourism and was made possible only because of the progress we have made on so many fronts. As part of this campaign we expect HolidayIQ to get lots of review content on lesser known Heritage destinations and attractions from across the country. This information will be of enormous use to travellers looking at exploring lesser known Heritage destinations thus encouraging tourism to these destinations. They will also be brought to INTACH’s notice and therefore can be renovated and maintained as tourist destinations.”
HolidayIQ expects the alliance to strengthen the culture of Heritage Destinations of India and to ensure that the Indian travelers are well aware about the lesser-known destinations.
The Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) is a Non-Profit NGO registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860. Since 1984, INTACH has pioneered the conservation and protection of India’s natural and cultural heritage and is today the largest membership organization in the country dedicated to conservation. Over the years, INTACH has taken up restoration and protection of hundreds.
“This tie up will take the form of a national contest where travellers across the country will nominate the Heritage destination they feel has the most tourism potential. The destination which wins will be taken over for development by INTACH in 2017,” Nair said.