Skift India Daily: Adventure Tourism Operators Need to Improve Safety Measures
Photo Caption: Most guides, operators and instructors in India fail to meet basic safety requirements.
Skift Take
Bungy jumping, scuba diving and paragliding may offer a lifetime of unmatched thrills, but are tour operators selling these thrills playing by the rulebook?
Aiming to be a top adventure tourism destination, the Indian tourism minister recently spoke about focusing on infrastructure development to boost this segment. However, India would need more than just infrastructure development. Quality standards, regulation and oversight would be needed for India to become a leading adventure tourism destination. Most guides, operators and instructors in the country fail to meet basic safety requirements as there are over 5,000 unregistered adventure tour operators in the country, said Vaibhav Kala, founder of New Delhi-based Aquaterra Adventures, told Skift. Highly specialized activities are operated by non-specialized operators due to lack of guidelines and limited skilling facilities. “We need a uniform nationwide regulatory system with ease of registration, training institutes and licensed guides to offer quality and safe experiences to tourists from around the world,” said Kala. Tourism in India lacks legislative backing and is therefore
