Despite being home to 73 per cent of Himalayan range, India because of its poor air services and facilities is losing tourists to Nepal when it comes to adventure sports like climbing expeditions and mountain trekking and skiing.
The Government has now woken up to promote the Indian Himalayas as an adventure destination for round-the-year flow of tourists in the country with Union Tourism Minister K Chiranjeevi all set to kick-off a campaign titled 777 days of Incredible Indian Himalaya on Friday.
The campaign, which is being launched in collaboration with the Adventure Tour Operators Association of India (ATOAI), aims to give centrestage to the Indian Himalayas on the world tourism map and change the image of Himalayas from all winter tourism to summer tourism as well.
“Indian Himalayas is an incredible tourism product that can attract both domestic and the international tourists who may have interest in soft and hard adventurism, the flora and fauna of the Himalayas and the Himalayan culture.
“Moreover, we can cash in on Buddhist tourists as well for whom the Himalayas are of great relevance on account of peace and serenity they offer,” said an official from
the Ministry.
On the reasons for losing out foreign tourists to the neighbouring country, he admitted that Nepal has already opened up Himalayas for the entire year. Moreover, they have air services in place for the convenience of tourists.
“In comparison, in India there is the option of reaching the Himalayas by either helicopters, which are expensive and don’t allow the luxury of carrying luggage, or by road which takes three to four days,” he pointed out.
According to the industry experts, there is an urgent need to build airstrips in remote Himalayan locations and kickstart air services so as to ease access to the region.
The Indian adventure tourism industry has an estimated turnover of up to ` 2,500 crore annually and is growing at an annual rate of 15 to 20 per cent per annum.