Climate crisis is real, and the travel industry is affected in so many ways that there is an immediate need to address ‘how we travel’. With a pledge to urge the travel community to explore differently and redefine its narrative for luxury and experiences — RARE India has unveiled RARE 2.0, which is people sensitive and planet friendly yet where service quality and transformative travel is a given.

The new RARE Logo is a simple, stylised leaf in gold of Ginkgo biloba, familiar to many as the maidenhair tree and is a metaphor for change to be led by travel and the community. Originally from the east, Ginkgo is a living fossil and has been around since before the Dinosaurs, deliberately propagated by avid horticulturists, it is found almost everywhere from the gardens in Kashmir to Oxford Street in UK, to the lanes of Manhattan. Change is driven deliberately when we inspire others to commit to a life that puts Planet and People first.

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RARE India is a collection of some of the finest conscious luxury heritage palaces, boutique hotels, conservation based wildlife lodges, homestays and retreats of the Indian subcontinent. As part of its responsible tourism agenda under RARE 2.0, the organisation has launched its new website, which symbolise its commitment towards conscious and mindful travel where luxury is redefined as experiences beyond excesses, stays that are sustainable and regenerative.

Speaking about her vision for RARE 2.0 and the newly launched website, RARE India’s Founder Shoba Mohan said, “For the longest time choices for hotels, lodges and boutique stays have been based on their price points and excesses that passed off as luxury. Every popular destination has suffered the consequences of placing the needs of the traveller’s demands without a thought to the integrity of the destination and the effects of unchecked tourism on its culture and environment. The community of hotels promoted under RARE India is designed to uphold the cultural and environmental integrity of the destination by engaging visitors in experiences to celebrate its people, diversity, cultural richness, authenticity and natural beauty. In destinations that are culturally fragile and are in the fringes of pristine natural habitats, travellers are urged to understand and participate in its preservation thus creating exceptional transformations.”

The attributes that every hotel will be measured against are their attitude towards Single Use Plastic, Local Community Engagement, Safe Garbage Disposal, Water Conservation, Low Impact Tourism, Living Heritage and its preservation, Wildlife, Nature and Habitat Conservation, Sensitive Destination Discovery and the power of Human Touch. In its technology upgraded version, the RARE India Community aims to be a consortium that is able to change traveller mindset towards destinations and experiences in the subcontinent that are alive, authentic, set in stylish and restful spaces, earth happy, conscious of their impact on the environment and committed to the land and the community. The Community will offer an opportunity to the travellers to explore differently and have mindful interactions with people, culture, nature, wildlife, crafts and traditions, create transformational experiences that will nudge them to live consciously.