The rapidly growing sector of adventure tourism is increasingly getting aligned with community-based programmes across the country. According to analysts, this niche tourism segment is fast catching the fancy of in-bound tourists and NGOs as it involves elements of eco-tourism along with peoples? participation. According to rough estimates, adventure tourism is growing at a rate of over 35% across the country.
?These tourist packages are picking up fast ,? said Tejbir Anand, president, Adventure Tour Operators Association of India. For instance, since female literacy is extremely low in remote mountain areas, top destinations on adventure tourists? list, packages where adventure activities such as mountain biking, camping and trekking are coupled with interaction with locals, spread awareness. While Uttarakhand followed by Himachal Pradesh and Sikkim, are popular amongst domestic tourists for terrestrial adventure activities, Ladakh is the main land adventure destination for inbound tourists. The segment was almost non-existent until a few years ago is fast catching up.
Anand?s company, Holiday Moods Adventure, is actively negotiating with corporate houses who are looking for such exotic-cum-educational and community service trips in India. It has also been actively negotiating with other institutions for organising such packages across the country.
?Voyage Concepts, a British company is one of the institutions which recently approached us for a similar package? he added. Adventure tourism itself has been growing at a very steady rate over the past few years, with growth arising primarily from corporate demand and over the years from working professionals wanting to de-stress on weekends. Analysts point out that the market is extremely fragmented, with local operators dominating the scene.
Terrestrial adventure tourism dominates the revenue earnings for tour operators by constituting a whopping 70% of the total tourism earnings.
Water adventure comes second while industry experts? point that air adventure is an extremely under-utilised sphere. The problem often pointed out is that air adventure which includes sports like paragliding and parachuting, requires adequate safety elements and a basic infrastructure on which the import duties are as high as 40%. Consequently air adventure activities are more of a sport than an adventure activity in India.