Adventure tourism picks up, but safety concerns remain

Towards the end of last year, a Bengaluru-based family lost their 12-year-old son in an accident at a popular paragliding site in Himachal Pradesh. Karnataka is also emerging as a popular destination for adventure sports as domestic tourism — as it was predicted — is seeing new heights in demand with the pandemic and other challenges making international tourism less attractive. The ‘Safety Guidelines’ are applicable to land, aqua and aero based adventure activities, and are mandatory for unregistered commercial/non-commercial organisations and individuals organising adventure activities, registered profit making/commercial organisations organising adventure activities, as well as schools, colleges or other type of Institutions organising adventure, among others. The document also specifies management responsibility, skills and competencies required, equipment specifications, field guidelines for trekking, rappelling and valley crossing, mountain biking, risk management and critical incidents and complaints redressal. Department officials added that the GETHNAA has been working with the Department of Youth Empowerment and Sports to issue new guidelines, including for recognition of adventure tourism operators.