Year: 2013

The rough and treacherous mountainous regions of Himachal are earning revenues for both its residents and government as adventure tourism of the state is on its rise. Although the state has failed to attract high end adventure enthusiasts due to the weak infrastructure, but still a sharp bounce in adventure industry in recent years is drawing attraction of more and more tourists from across the world. With over five lakh tourists visiting state only for adventure activities, which is more than twice than that it was 10 years back, Himachal has proved its potential in sector of adventure tourism. According to sources, in addition to tourists from abroad, a large part of subscribers to Himachal are from Maharashtra, West Bengal and southern states of the country. Not only basic adventure activities like river rafting, paragliding and skiing are the hot selling sports, but mountaineering has proved to be a backbone of tourism industry of the Himachal. “Himachal is establishing its identity as mini-Nepal for its sky-high hills which are not that easy to climb,” owner of Himalayan Caranvan, Ravi Thakur, said, who claims hundreds of permissions are being sought from Indian Mountaineering Foundation (IMF), Delhi, to climb peaks in Himachal every year. “Thousands of climbers are reaching Himachal to scale one of the toughest peaks of the world every year. Easy access to base of the peaks and low cost climbing expeditions are pulling attention of the world. We have challenging peaks ranging from 15,000 feet to 22,362 feet,” he said. The Western Himalayan Mountaineering Institute (now ABVIMAS) has prepared hundreds of skilled mountaineers in Himachal in last four decades who have further contributed to cheap, safe and eco-friendly adventure tourism in the state. Kangra, Shimla, Kullu, Mandi, Spiti and Kinnaur have become the hotspot for adventure activities. “Lakhs of