By Susmita Ghosh
Some travel businesses begin with investment, infrastructure and a business plan. Tour Kingdom began with a Maruti Alto, and a driver who was willing to dream bigger. Shekhar Gope’s journey from being a driver to building a travel company reflects not just personal ambition, but the changing face of tourism in Northeast India. His entry into the travel business was modest. Encouraged by a friend involved in railway-ticket bookings, Shekhar ventured into tourism with the simple expectation of handling perhaps two to five tour packages a month. The business initially operated as Dooars Kingdom, focusing primarily on the Dooars region. But the more he travelled and interacted with the industry, the more he saw the opportunity beyond one destination. The Dooars was only the beginning. The Northeast was the bigger story. That realisation led to the transformation of Dooars Kingdom into Tour Kingdom, a name that reflected a wider ambition to showcase and sell experiences across Northeast India.
Learning the Hard Way
The journey, however, was far from smooth. A difficult experience with a business partner forced Shekhar to start afresh independently. Then came COVID-19, bringing tourism almost to a standstill. With travel bookings disappearing, he returned to driving to sustain himself.
Yet, even during the industry’s darkest period, he continued looking for what could change the game when travel returned. He found one answer in digital content.
Seeing the Destination before Booking
As travellers increasingly turned to YouTube and social media for travel inspiration, Shekhar recognised the power of creators to influence destination choices.
Tour Kingdom began collaborating with travel You Tubers and content creators, allowing potential travellers to see destinations, hotels, roads and experiences before making a booking. For Shekhar, this was more than marketing. It was about converting curiosity into travel. The strategy helped Tour Kingdom build visibility while positioning the company around a more contemporary idea of tourism, where content, community and experience increasingly influence the booking decision.
The Business Is People
For all its digital ambitions, Shekhar’s approach remains deeply relationship driven.
He places considerable importance on his team, vendors and business partners, believing that sustainable travel businesses are built through trust and long-term relationships, not transactions alone. His own experiences have reinforced that belief. Books, podcasts, conversations and years of dealing with people have also shaped his understanding of entrepreneurship. The lessons have been simple but powerful. Setbacks can become learning experiences, relationships need to be nurtured, and growth requires patience.
Building More Than a Travel Company
The next phase of Tour Kingdom is about going beyond selling conventional holiday
packages. Shekhar wants to strengthen the company’s presence across Northeast India,
including emerging destinations like Nagaland and Mizoram, while exploring
opportunities in neighbouring markets like Nepal. More important, he sees tourism as a vehicle for creating a larger ecosystem. Supporting local communities, vendors and employment while encouraging travellers to discover lesser-known destinations responsibly.
His long-term vision is to build a digital travel community that brings together
travellers, creators, local businesses and destinations. And the target is ambitious: One lakh traveller a year. For a business that once considered two to five bookings a month a meaningful beginning, that number represents more than growth. It represents the scale of
Shekhar Gope’s transformation.
From Driver to Destination Builder
The Tour Kingdom story is ultimately not about how quickly a travel company grew.
It is about how a man who started behind the wheel recognised an opportunity in a region he believed deserved a much larger place on the tourism map. Shekhar Gope is now betting that the next big chapter of Indian tourism will be written in the Northeast, and he wants Tour Kingdom to be part of that story. Stay connected with Tour Kingdom (www.tourkingdom.in). They offer personalized itineraries, premium accommodations, and 24/7 support to ensure your journey exceeds expectations at every turn.