Redefining hospitality architecture: An experiential tourism cluster in Maheshwar, Madhya Pradesh

Abstract

Over the past few decades, the world has seen a paradigm shift in the trends of travel and tourism. With the advent of Gen-Z, Millennials and the Covid-19 pandemic, unconventional forms of travel like- backpacking, wildlife tourism, cultural tourism, agro-tourism, rural tourism, workations, slow-travel, etc. have taken over the tourism industry by a storm. With these changing travel trends, there needs to be a shift in hospitality trends as well, because the primary demographic of travelers is no longer looking for luxury, sightseeing and vacations but rather, looking for more wholesome, immersive, cultural experiences. While MP Tourism has picked up a great pace over the last few years in bettering the branding and promotion of the State Tourism, yet the true potential seems to be untapped. This is where sustainable tourism development needs to step in to cater to the growing needs and expectations of the new-age traveler without exploiting the local resources of the destination. Maheshwar in Madhya Pradesh is one of the several traditional handloom weaving clusters and temple towns of India having immense potential of culture and architecture that needs to be studiedto establish a harmonious relation between the weaver’s community and tourists, thereby setting an example for further tourism developments in various other such regional communities of India. This thesis is a Community-Based Tourism project, on the banks of River Narmada in Maheshwar, Madhya Pradesh. The ideation of the project is a culmination of 3 years of research in this field, gap identification and various schemes being run by MP Tourism like the homestay scheme, ecotourism scheme and the Integrated cluster development program. With the aim to develop ahospitality space for 150 tourists, the project also caters to the needs of the community through the design of an urban haat, an aanganwadi, a tourism centre and other urban design interventions, all while taking care of the site, surroundings, and context.