The government will soon launch a country-wide ranking of States and union territories on adventure tourism to give a boost to the nascent sector in India. The rankings would take into consideration parameters such as infrastructure, safety and capacity building and training capabilities of each State.
A draft document on the guidelines for the ranking, which has been conceptualised by the Indian Institute of Tourism and Travel Management (IITTM), an autonomous body under the Union Tourism Ministry, has already been circulated to all State and union territory governments, a senior official of the Tourism Ministry told The Hindu.

“The objective of the ranking is to foster competitiveness and encourage States to proactively work towards developing adventure tourism,” the official said.

While some State governments have already sent in their views, those of others are awaited. The draft document would be discussed in detail and finalised in the meeting of the National Board of Adventure Tourism to be held here by the end of the month. The board is headed by the Tourism Secretary.

Seven parameters

According to the draft, the seven main parameters on which the States would be assessed for ranking are mapping of adventure sites in land, water and air, registration process for adventure tour operators and adventure activity service providers, infrastructure, marketing and promotion, community involvement at site level, capacity building and training and promotion of responsible travel behaviour.

There will also be a State-specific report containing an analysis of respective ecosystems and promotion of adventure tourism, strengths and priority areas for future and best practices adopted by them.

Apart from this, special weightage would be given to States for promulgating and following safety guidelines and regulations.

Adventure tourism is considered a sunshine sector for India based on its significant geographical advantages such as 70% of the Himalayas and 7,000 km of coastline. India is also among one of the three countries of the world with both hot and cold deserts, and ranks 10 th in total area under forest cover and 6 th in terms of UNESCO natural heritage sites.

The Indian adventure tourism industry, though nascent, was valued at $0.3 billion in 2019 and was estimated to cross $2 billion in 2028, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 20%.

The Tourism Ministry had in April 2022 formulated a National Strategy for Adventure Tourism which had proposed such a ranking for States. A day-long discussion on ‘Tourism in Mission Mode; Advantage Adventure Tourism’ was also held at the second G-20 tourism working group meeting held in Siliguri last week.