With an aim to make adventure sports safer in the country, Minister of State for Tourism KJ Alphons on Thursday launched the guidelines on safety and quality norms for adventure tourism.
Releasing the guidelines, the Tourism Minister said, "These guidelines are a beginning to building adventure tourism in India and extended whole support to all stakeholders for developing this niche sector so as to tap the whole potential offered," he said. The guidelines have been framed for 15 land activities, 7 air activities and 7 water activities which cover the entire gamut of adventure tourism available in the country.
As per the new guidelines, all adventure tourism operators need to get themselves registered with the tourism department of their respective state Governments, and at the same time, they will need to get the recognition of the Ministry of Tourism to operate.
Also, before taking tourists on hot air balloon rides, the respective operators will now need to take permission from the Airport Authority of India (AAI) for each area of their operation. In addition to this, the operators will also have to take permission from the administrative authorities and local police stations of that place.
Also, the air safari operators, who intend to take tourists on aerial trips over any scenic destinations, will need to obtain prior security clearance from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
For the river tourism operators, it will be mandatory to take approvals from the state authority, to ensure more safety of the tourists, the class certification society and the state waterways authority will do inspections of the vessels and give them due fitness certificates on an annual basis.
To ensure safety of minor tourists, written consent of the parents will be required for any under-18 tourist wanting to enjoy an All Terrain Vehicle (ATV) ride. Besides, every regular tourist participating in an ATV ride would need to furnish an indemnity bond before the activity, as per the guidelines.
Similarly, the equipments used for bungee jumping anywhere in India should be of certified quality and should also be procured from reputed companies. Besides, regular inspection of these equipments will also be carried out for ensuring maximum safety of the tourists, said Adventure Tour Operators Association of India (ATOAI) President, Swadesh Kumar.