Strategy for adventure tourism in Northeast

Remoteness and rugged terrain make many destinations in the Northeast region, which are full of rich natural beauty, ideal for adventurer tourists and explorers seeking accomplishments through overcoming challenges in life. Successful scaling of an unclimbed mountain peak in the Gorichen range of Himalayas in Arunachal Pradesh has demonstrated huge potential in the region for promotion of mountaineering and other adventure tourism activities. A 15-member team from the National Institute of Mountaineering and Adventure Sports successfully summited the snow-covered peak at an altitude of 6383 metres (20,941 feet) above sea level reaching the summit on Wednesday in 15 days. Adventure tourism in biodiversity rich northeast takes the tourist closer to nature. This serves dual purpose of providing households living in these remote areas alternative avenues of earning from tourism and spreading messages of nature conservation to preserve the natural landscapes for climate change mitigation. Another advantage of promotion of adventure tourism in the region is that adventure tourists, because of their bond with nature and natural landscapes, can become ideal brand ambassadors of biodiversity conservation in the region. Adventure tourism has multiple benefits including health benefits from physical fitness, stress busting apart from experiencing new cultural practices. The inherent risk associated with it cannot be ignored and adequate safety measures are required to be put in place to prevent injuries to tourists. The Ministry of Tourism has laid down the safety standards which need to be strictly adhered to for safer adventure tourism related activities such as mountaineering, trekking, paragliding etc. The National Strategy for Adventure Tourism released by the Ministry in April 2022 seeks to achieve an enabling ecosystem for the growth of Adventure Tourism in the country, create synergies amongst central government, state governments, private sector and local communities, for the development of adventure tourism. It categorises adventure tourism activities into “Hard adventure activities” such as high altitude mountaineering, river rafting, scuba diving, hang gliding, skydiving etc., that involve a high level of risk and require a greater level of expertise, skills, training and experience; and “soft adventure activities” such as hiking, campaign, biking that involve moderate levels of risk and do not require particular skills or experience. The strategy underscores the need for involving industry players who specialises in adventure tourism to create innovative adventure tourism products to attract adventure tourists in the country and abroad. It lays emphasis on taking onboard the local communities as a key stakeholder. The local community has to be made aware of the benefits of sustainable adventure tourism, their apprehensions if any have to be allayed and they have to be encouraged to participate and be part of the value chain. In order to ensure inclusive and responsible tourism, most of the supplies and services must be sourced from local providers. Their capacity building will have to be done to ensure they become part of the supply chain, it adds. The guiding principles for adventure tourism incorporated in the national strategy include: Adventure tourism in any area must be developed in consultation with local community and a mechanism to seek social legitimacy, credibility and trust of the community must be set out; the strategy should prioritize adventure tourism by proposing investment in research on target adventure markets, adventure trends, products with potential and encourage public-private partnerships; adherence to safety standards is especially important for the adventure sector, where activities can be risky; and the strategy must ensure compliance and strict enforcement of regulations regarding safety and service standards. It also insists that adventure destinations need policies that prioritize the type of infrastructure valued by adventure tourists such as signage, good guide training, and clean trails and cautions that a destination that is not well connected loses competitiveness. Adventure opportunities being discoverable online and easily bookable are another important consideration for adventure tourists, it says. Two other key strategies in which the states can play the crucial role have also been spelt out in the strategy document. These include preparing development plans for the prioritised adventure destinations based on the detailed gap study and benchmarking with national and international best practices and standards and addressing the challenges of connectivity. It insists that most of the adventure activities happen in remote areas, and it is important to improve the connectivity of these destinations to reduce travel time. States in the region having comprehensive strategies on the line of national strategy is critical to turning adventure tourism potential into commercially viable and environmentally sustainable attractive adventure tourism products. Connectivity push by the central and state governments in the region has led to significant improvement in road, rail, air and waterway connectivity unlocking new opportunities for promotion of adventure tourism. Ranking of the states based on prevailing adventure tourism ecosystem will help states in the region identify strengths and gaps for adventure tourism development.