Maharashtra implements Adventure Tourism Policy; pushes safe & responsible tourism
Kalavantin durg
The policy provides for a registration process and official certification for adventure tourism activities, aiming to help build greater confidence among tourists regarding safety and service standards.
The Maharashtra Tourism Department is implementing the Adventure Tourism Policy, to promote adventure tourism in the state while making tourist safety a top priority. The government has taken a significant step to encourage adventure tourism across all three domains: land, air, and water. Adventure tourism operators, organisations, resorts, and other service providers have been urged to use the policy and comply with the safety standards prescribed under it.
The primary objective of the policy is to create a safe, well-planned, and responsible tourism ecosystem in the adventure tourism sector. The policy provides for a registration process and official certification for adventure tourism activities, helping build greater confidence among tourists regarding safety and service standards.
Vikas Pansare (IAS), Director of the Directorate of Tourism, Govt. of Maharashtra, said, “The Adventure Tourism Policy is an important initiative that is giving a new direction to tourism development in the state. The policy has received a positive response across Maharashtra, and a range of adventure tourism activities are now being conducted more systematically and safely. This has helped strengthen tourists’ confidence in adventure activities while also creating new local employment opportunities. Adventure tourism operators, organisations and service providers should make full use of the government’s policy and ensure that more activities are officially registered. The government is committed to making tourist safety its foremost priority and positioning Maharashtra as a leading state in adventure tourism.”
The benefits of the Adventure Tourism Policy are said to be available to individual operators, partnership organisations, companies, non-profit organisations, charitable institutions, clubs, resorts, adventure tourism camps, training institutes, and service providers associated with the adventure tourism sector. The policy lays down detailed safety regulations for tourists. Mandatory provisions include the required permissions, trained guides, quality equipment, first-aid facilities, safety nets, directional signage, watchtowers, sirens, fire-safety arrangements, and emergency rescue systems.
The policy is giving a major boost to adventure tourism activities in Maharashtra, including mountaineering, parasailing, scuba diving, bungee jumping, and other adventure activities. In addition to ensuring that tourists have access to quality facilities in a safe environment, the initiative is creating new employment and self-employment opportunities for young people at the local level.
The Maharashtra Tourism Department has urged all stakeholders to take advantage of the policy and actively contribute to building a safe, responsible, and sustainable adventure tourism ecosystem in Maharashtra.
