TBM Staff - Mumbai
Celebrating 20 years of operations, RARE India, recognised as the largest community of boutique owner-run hotels and experiences in the Indian subcontinent, will host BRIDGES 2024 from April 4th to 6th at The Roseate, New Delhi. Positioned as a change makers’ collective, BRIDGES showcases individual hoteliers, small indigenous hospitality groups, destinations, and experiences exemplifying tourism as a ‘force for good.’ The event aims to accelerate the shift towards responsible tourism, reevaluate itineraries, construct destination narratives, and promote community-focused and planet-sensitive tourism.
Shoba Rudra, Founder of RARE India, stated, “Through BRIDGES, we aim to be that singular experiential event that can inspire global collaborators to understand Responsible Tourism from the perspective of the sub-continent through a curated list of storytellers, owner-run hotels, and experiences.”
Approximately 45 owner-run, small hotels from the RARE Community, along with 6 hotels as Friends of RARE, will represent this ideology at the event, sharing their remarkable stories woven around the destination, its people, heritage, and culture.
The event will feature Catalyst Talks, workshops, and conversation circles by RARE partners such as Belinda Wright, Gopinath Parayil, and Antara Phookan. To reach a global audience of change makers, some conversations will be accessible online as well.
The second edition of the RARE Conscious Travel Awards will be held on April 5th as part of BRIDGES. These awards celebrate RARE hotels and experiences, honoring small, boutique, and owner-run hotels that have worked to establish a destination on the traveler’s map while remaining community-sensitive and planet-inclusive.
In a first-of-its-kind initiative, BRIDGES by RARE aspires to be a Carbon Neutral Event, verified by nettzero.world. RARE India is committed to strengthening its sustainability journey by quantifying its carbon footprint for Scope 1, Scope 2, and partial Scope 3 emissions. BRIDGES 2024 is one of India’s first travel events to undertake a realistic inventory of Greenhouse Gas emissions according to globally instituted norms and take steps towards mitigation and offsets through internationally validated credits. NettZero Environmental Advisory Technologies, a leader in sustainability management, will manage the calculation, verification, and offsetting process.
Rudra emphasised, “As an industry, we have to become serious about responsible tourism, and our collaboration with NettZero is a small step towards understanding how and authentication of this intention. Enough talk! Time for action.”
