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BBC MUNDO RADIO
By Sharmistha Dey
MUMBAI, July 24 (Xinhua) -- After five years of completing WOW Travel this month, Sumitra Senapaty now looks back on her journey as a traveler.
Sumitra started her career as a travel writer. Traveling was less a job, more a passion, for her. Being a solo traveler, Sumitra dared to explore off beaten tracks -- she has kayaked the South China Sea, snorkelled Great Barrier and Red Sea, rafted the Zanskar in Ladakh, driven through New Zealand, cruised the Mediterranean, and camped in the African bush.
Venturing into something off the beaten path only seemed to be a natural progression for this woman of spirit and courage. WOW, in other words, Women on Wanderlust, was born of out this spirit.
WOW is primarily a web-based venture. It is a service dedicated to the thousands of women travelers who cannot make it to desired destinations on their own. WOW brings these aspiring travelers together for unusual and memorable travel experiences. "WOW was born during one of my trips to New Zealand where I met a British women's traveling club. It set me thinking how Indian women could benefit from such a service."
Women in India are reluctant to venture out on their own, and face opposition from their families if they voice such a wish. WOW is their conduit to travel together, safely.
One reason that sets it apart and perhaps the key to its success is that WOW does not operate as a travel agency; it is instead, a travel club for women, and has turned out to be quite a social platform for women to interact.
New friends are made during the tours and the friendships continue long after the trips get over -- through WOW wine evenings, movie screenings or chilling at a fellow wanderer's home. "I started with an investment of 1 million rupees (20,000 U.S. dollars) and I am happy to say I broke within one-and-a-half years of operations," said Sumitra.
WOW succeeded through word of mouth reviews, mostly through women, who loved the travel experience it offered. From no base at all to a 15,000 customer base, WOW has come a long way.
"I have recently introduced new services within the same market, for example summer trips for mom and kids. My target is to have 1,000 women traveling annually with WOW, by 2013. Expansion in the next five years, as I see it, will result in three more offices, other than the current Bangalore and Delhi ones, and three franchises, with a turnover of 200 million,"she said.
So what next, after WOW? A book, for sure, said Sumitra: "I have to put it together -- all these years of traveling experience must be shared."
