Unique in our offerings as well as our mindset, we are South-Asia’s number one active travel company with the largest selection of running, cycling & hiking trips for travellers in the region. We are proud to be appointed official tour operators for India and the UAE, for some of the world’s most prestigious marathon races including the Virgin Money London Marathon, Boston Marathon, TCS New York City Marathon and Comrades. As the only tour operator in the region associated with all six World Marathon Major races, we help runners realise their dreams.
With many firsts in the region to our credit, since 2013 we have been pioneering the space for active travel for both competitive athletes seeking personal records and easy adventurers looking to do something different. And, what has fuelled our journey from a boot-strapped start up to the first choice with discerning active travellers is not just our world-class service, but truly caring about our work, our travellers, our community and the world that we live in.
Our easy-going cycling and hiking trips are designed to open a new world of experiences to our travellers whilst supporting the local economies. Matching with this ethos is our exclusive regional partnership with UK Headquartered Exodus, the world’s oldest and largest adventure travel company.
We also work closely with charities such as Run with Roshni, a project run by Roshni Rai to help the underprivileged Gorkha Runners pursue their running dreams. Over the years we have assisted with raising funds to support their travel to various races as well as providing them with running gear.
Our Story
Like every runner's story, the story of Active Holiday Company is made up of blood, sweat and tears. And lots of medals, of course! Way back in 2008, when Gauri was the Regional Director (South Asia & Middle East) for the World's largest coach touring company her squash opponent, who was a new entrepreneur at the time, started skipping their play-dates. She took up running as the anytime, anywhere and without anyone replacement to playing squash and she was hooked.
She celebrated her 40th birthday by running half a dozen half marathons in as many locations - including a race to the lowest point on earth (The Dead Sea Ultra Run in Jordan) and then trekking to the base camp of the world's highest mountain - the Mt. Everest - a trip that became a turning point in her life. She returned to her home in Bangalore and quit her fancy job (yes with very many fancy perks) to set up Active Holiday Company. And, finally at this tender age she bought herself a hybrid bicycle to replace her depreciated car!
However, the long queue of travellers, like herself that she was sure existed out there, were no-where to be seen and finding even a handful of runners for their first few international marathon races remains a bitter-sweet memory even today. Her mantra those days was that if she couldn’t find any customers to join a marathon tour, she would go run it herself. Unfortunately (or rather fortunately) that never happened. Still, the money ran out rather soon and her friends came forward to help bail out the loss making venture. Slowly, very slowly, the kitty of marathon races, cycling trips and hiking tours increased, as did their takers. And in a world where start-ups are given 1000 days to make it or break it, Active Holiday Company took almost twice that long to break even!
An extension to the Middle East via their set up in the UAE seemed natural given Gauri’s familiarity with the region through her past work. Today, Active Holiday Company is the foremost Marathon Tour Operator in the region with an unmatched selection of running trips in India and overseas, for runners of all abilities and distances. We also offer a huge selection of cycling and hiking holidays, particularly in Europe that are extremely popular with travellers from both India and the Middle East.
Gauri’s experience of nearly three decades in the travel business, combined with her love for exploring destinations ‘the active way’ makes her the best (wo)man for the top job at Active Holiday Company. Having taken her first road trip when she was just 5 days old, it appears that the bug never left her and she's travelled to over 65 countries (says she doesn't keep a count!).
Voted the Most Influential Person in the Travel Industry by NDTV Profit and Travel News Digest (2014), she was also awarded the Iconic Leaders Creating a Better World for All by the Women Economic Forum in 2020. She has lent her expertise to leading travel publications as a writer and as a jury member to prestigious travel events. Her memoir Wise Enough to be Foolish was published in 2013. To her adventure means daring to follow one’s beliefs with conviction, even though sometimes they could take you to the end of the world!