The Intrepid Foundation, a non-profit arm of Australia-based Intrepid Travel, recently tied up with India-based Access Development Services – a not-for-profit organisation to launch the Holy City Rickshaws project in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh.
Access Development Services focuses on incubating innovations for sustainable livelihoods of the poor in both farm and the non-farm sectors.
Varanasi is a popular tourist destination known for its spirituality and rich heritage. Under the ambit of Holy City Rickshaws, a number of day tours are being offered to travellers. These tours cover experiences like food trail, Hindu circuit, shopping tour, Buddhist circuit and early morning and spiritual evening trips.
Initially, the tours will be operated with a fleet of 10 custom-designed e-rickshaws, driven by 50 local women from low-income households. These women have received training in both driving and essential soft skills to ensure a safe and engaging experience for tourists. Intrepid Travel will encompass these e-rickshaw tours in its itineraries for tourists visiting the region. The company will also promote these trips through its B2B tour operator network.
Rama Mahendru, country general manager, India, Intrepid Travel shared: “This initiative reflects Intrepid’s ongoing commitment to sustainable tourism and empowering women in the local community. Intrepid Travel is aiming to serve 600,000 passengers globally by 2030 and we are expecting to serve 30,000 inbound tourists by the same year in India. So, there are enormous opportunities for such kinds of projects and adding meaningful experiences into our itineraries.”
The Intrepid Foundation has made an initial investment of A$55,000 (US$37,400) into kickstarting the Holy City Rickshaw project.
Biheng Zhang, general manager of The Intrepid Foundation, said: “Our funding model critically engages our customers, suppliers and our wider network of partners to continually fundraise for our existing partners. What that means is on trips with our intrepid customers, we will be telling them about Access Development’s incredible work and how it is empowering women and training them. With the additional funds we aim to raise, we hope to support the training of more women and address any future needs Access Development may have.”
The Intrepid Foundation is also planning to install solar panels at the e-rickshaw charging stations to make the project even more sustainable.
