Responsible Travel in India: The Geranos Way

The phrase "responsible travel" has become so widely used that it has begun to lose its edges. Airlines use it. Hotel chains use it. Tour operators use it. It appears in brochures alongside photographs of smiling local children and spotless eco-lodges.

At Geranos Getaways, we try to be specific about what we mean — and what we don't.

We mean that we work with farms and stays that are genuinely community-based, where the money stays in the local economy rather than flowing to a multinational. We mean that we keep our groups small — typically eight to fifteen people — so that the weight of our presence on a village or a sacred site is manageable. We mean that we ask our guides to be honest about the complexity of the places we visit, including the difficult histories.

We mean that we do not romanticise poverty. Rural India is beautiful. It is also hard. The farmers at Falcon Green Farm work very long days. The artisans in Malerkotla who produce Zardozi embroidery earn wages that would be considered low by any urban standard. We try to ensure that what we pay — for stays, for experiences, for meals — reflects the real value of what is offered, not the price that a tourist can be made to accept.

We mean that we take the places we visit seriously enough to learn about them before we arrive. Sebestian Kuruvilla, who travelled with us through rural Punjab, said he felt he was "getting an insider's view of the region." That is the standard we aim for.

Responsible travel is not a checklist. It is a disposition — towards curiosity, towards humility, towards the recognition that every place you visit has a life that continues after you leave, and that you have some obligation to leave it better than you found it, or at least no worse.

That is what we try to do. We don't always succeed. But it is the measure we hold ourselves to.

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