MakeMyTrip is expanding its tours and attractions play by partnering with the Ministry of Tourism to bring more than 350 guided experiences across 60 cities onto its platform, making locally led tours bookable online from August 15.
The partnership marks an attempt to solve a long-standing gap in India’s domestic tourism market: while travellers can easily book flights, hotels and conventional attractions online, many of the experiences that reveal the character of a destination, heritage walks, local food, crafts, cultural encounters and community-led tours, have traditionally remained dependent on word of mouth and on-arrival discovery.
For MakeMyTrip, bringing these experiences onto a digital platform creates a new layer in the travel-booking journey while potentially opening a larger organised market for local guides and tourism operators.
From destinations to stories
Aligned with the government’s “Incredible India” and “Dekho Apna Desh” initiatives, the partnership seeks to encourage Indians to explore the country’s heritage, culture, spirituality, cuisine, festivals and monuments through local experts.
The initial catalogue covers more than 350 experiences across 60 cities, with the portfolio expected to expand.
The experiences range from conventional sightseeing to highly localised activities. Travellers can book tea-tasting sessions in Palampur, heritage and cultural experiences in Agra, a colonial-era walking tour in Mussoorie and a Ganges-focused experience in Varanasi.
In Kolkata, the platform offers a street photography tour, while visitors to Goa can opt for a village walking tour combined with high tea at a local home in Saligao. Jaipur offers a hands-on block-printing experience with local artisans.
The catalogue also includes cycling, vehicle-based and multi-day experiences, with prices starting at ₹500.
The variety is significant because it moves the proposition beyond the traditional sightseeing model. A traveller is not simply buying entry to a monument or attraction but access to a local story and, in many cases, an interaction with the people who preserve that culture.
Turning the informal into a bookable market
The partnership also addresses a commercial opportunity.
Local guided experiences have historically been fragmented. Tourists often discover guides through hotels, local recommendations, social media or operators at the destination. That makes pricing, availability and quality difficult to assess in advance.
Digitising these experiences could bring greater visibility and structure to the segment.
“Our guides, local experts and communities are the backbone of India’s tourism value chain. This partnership gives them an opportunity to reach travellers directly and share India’s stories,” said Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Minister of Tourism & Culture.
The Minister added that the initiative could encourage travellers to return not merely as visitors but as storytellers carrying India’s heritage to the world.
For the Tourism Ministry, the partnership consequently has a dual objective: stimulate domestic travel while ensuring that local communities and tourism professionals become more visible participants in the tourism economy.
MakeMyTrip moves deeper into the travel experience
For MakeMyTrip, the initiative fits into a broader strategy of moving beyond its traditional flight and hotel-booking proposition.
Its tours and attractions business already brings museums, heritage walks, treks, safaris and cultural attractions onto the platform. The new partnership adds a more curated and locally immersive layer to that offering.
“India has never been short of stories worth telling. What has been missing is a way for travellers to discover and book them as easily as they book a flight or a hotel,” said MakeMyTrip Executive Director & Group CEO, Rajesh Magow. He said the partnership puts guides and local experts at the centre of the experience and creates an opportunity to showcase these offerings through curated and user-generated content.
That last element could be particularly important.
Travel discovery is increasingly influenced by digital content. A well-produced local experience can generate not only a booking but also photographs, videos, reviews and social-media content that can inspire the next traveller.
In effect, MakeMyTrip could be creating a cycle in which experience leads to content, content drives discovery and discovery generates bookings.
A new layer of domestic tourism
The partnership comes at a time when Indian travellers are increasingly looking for experiences rather than simply destinations.
For domestic tourism, that creates an opportunity to spread visitor spending beyond hotels, transport operators and major attractions to local guides, artisans, communities and small tourism businesses.
The catalogue’s breadth illustrates the potential. It includes experiences ranging from a stargazing and barbecue night in Ladakh’s Nubra Valley to a shikara ride in Srinagar, alongside cultural, heritage and adventure activities.
The initiative also brings unusual experiences into the organised booking ecosystem, including an electric-cycle ride in Goa and a Mumbai tour covering Dharavi, Dhobi Ghat, the dabbawallas and India Gateway.