Thursday, April 13, 2023
In a bid to help the budding adventure tourism business in India, the government will soon issue a country-wide rating of states and union territories. The rankings would take into account characteristics such as each state’s infrastructure, safety, capacity building, and training capacities.
A draft document on the ranking guidelines, conceptualised by the Indian Institute of Tourism and Travel Management (IITTM), an autonomous body under the Union Tourism Ministry, has already been distributed to all State and Union Territory governments, The Hindu reported citing a senior Tourism Ministry official.
“The objective of the ranking is to foster competitiveness and encourage States to proactively work towards developing adventure tourism,” The Hindu quoted the official as saying.
The Tourism Ministry developed a National Strategy for Adventure Tourism in April 2022, which advocated such a rating for states. At the second G-20 tourism working group meeting last week in Siliguri, a day-long debate on ‘Tourism in Mission Mode; Advantage Adventure Tourism’ was also conducted.
While some state governments have already submitted their opinions, those of others are still pending.
The draft paper will be examined in depth and finished at the National Board of Adventure Tourism meeting, which will be held in New Delhi before the end of the month. The Tourism Secretary chairs the board.
According to the draft, the seven main parameters used to rank states are mapping of adventure sites in land, water and air, registration process for adventure tour operators and adventure activity service providers, infrastructure, marketing and promotion, community involvement at site level, capacity building and training and promotion of responsible travel behaviour.
The Hindu further noted that there will also be a State-specific report that includes a study of the individual ecosystems and promotion of adventure tourism, as well as strengths and priority areas for the future and best practises followed by them.
Aside from that, states would be granted extra credit for establishing and adhering to safety norms and laws.
Because of its tremendous natural assets, such as 70% of the Himalayas and 7,000 km of coastline, adventure tourism is regarded as a bright spot for India. India is also one of only three nations in the world having both hot and cold deserts, and it ranks tenth in total forest cover and sixth in UNESCO natural heritage sites.
Though still in its infancy, the Indian adventure tourism business was valued at $0.3 billion in 2019 and is expected to exceed $2 billion by 2028, expanding at a compound annual growth rate of 20%.
Tags: adventure tourism, India, Tourism
Tuesday, April 11, 2023
Thursday, April 13, 2023
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