India on an ‘Adventure High’

The news of an American mountaineer being rescued by the Indian Air Force from an altitude of 23,000 ft in Ladakh region of Jammu & Kashmir flashed through my mind as I started writing this piece on the potential and challenges to develop India as an adventure tourism destination. While, hard or extreme adventure activities are still niche and largely pursued by foreigners, the segment of soft adventure activities  has been overrun by domestic tourists ranging from youngsters to Silvers segment.

Adventure Tourism is still a niche segment but one that is fast evolving in India and recording double digit growth and has the potential to turn into mainstay for tourism in India in near future. This is the result of growing interest among domestic tourists to indulge in adventure activity and the corporate sector to incorporate it in their training programmes and incentives. White water river rafting, trekking, wildlife safaris, skiing are the most popular activities.