A STUDY OF PROSPECTS OF ADVENTURE TOURISM IN KULLU-MANALI DISTRICT, HIMACHAL PRADESH

In the present scenario, the adventure tourism is growing more and more in India and options are made available for tourists to get top quality adventure gears. District Kullu-Manali of Himachal Pradesh offers a good variety and options for the adventure tourism activities. New vendors and shopping centers are opening up to assist tourists and to help adventure tourism grow even more. For tourists, there are short adventure courses also available at different places across the country. Many of these ‘Centers’ are administered and maintained by the state governments of India. The destination offers various prominent sports activities related to adventure tourism namely river rafting, camping, trekking, mountaineering, rock climbing, motor cycling, skiing and Heli-skiing. The present paper focuses on the various facilities related to Adventure Tourism activities in Kullu-Manali district and their current operational status. For the purpose of the study a sample size of 50 respondents has been taken through random sampling technique. From the analysis, it has been observed that it is not easy or convenient to operate, conduct and deliver services in the Adventure tourism/sports activities. A lot of logistics along with various materials/tools/equipment is required as an essential and important parts of the activity. Moreover, the availability of professional instructors and trainers is the one of the most important requirements for commencing adventure sports activities.