India shares its adventurous side

India Tourism and members of the travel trade welcomed eight members of the Adventure Tour Operators Association of India (ATOAI) to the first of five road shows last night, as the organization showcases active travel draws to agents across Canada and the U.S.

The eight participating operators offer a wide range of activities, from active tours involving cycling, trekking and watersports to more leisure-oriented packages such as wildlife excursions and yoga escapes. Akshay Kumar, CEO of Mercury Himalayan Explorations & president of the ATOAI, told PAX that while India’s wildlife has always remained a strong draw for tourists hoping to glimpse a tiger in the wild, the association’s 350 members have seen growing interest in trekking and mountain biking packages in markets across the globe.

“Trekking is the foremost but mountain biking is coming up in a big way,” Kumar said, adding that whitewater rafting and skiing are also starting to gain popularity, particularly in Europe.

The association, which Kumar said was founded in the late 1990s to represent India’s growing adventure travel sector, takes up to 12 members on an annual roadshow to a handful of international markets, last venturing to North America in 2013. Kumar said that while the strongest response internationally has come from agents and travellers in the U.K., Germany and Australia, India’s adventure travel reputation is growing in North America, with a particularly strong interest on the Pacific coast.

“In North America, Vancouver and Seattle will be the two biggest cities for us,” Kumar said. “Toronto is good but adventure travel hasn’t gone mainstream here yet; it’s more of a leisure market, but we’ve met a lot of people and got some business here.”

One of those connections made in the Toronto area will see the ATOAI partnering with the Brampton Beast ECHL hockey team to bring Team India to Canada, which Kumar called the “temple of ice hockey.”

“We promote ice hockey in Ladakh in the northern Himalayas; we’ve been trying to get the teams to Canada and the Brampton Beast reached out to us and invited to host the team in Canada,” Kumar explained. “It will involve the Indian community in Brampton in supporting hockey and we hope to do it every year going forward.”

Overall, Canadian arrivals to India continue to climb this year. In an update on the destination following the tradeshow, India Tourism Toronto Director Anil Oraw reported that in 2014, the country welcomed 770,000 Canadian travellers, up more than 100,000 from the previous year and representing more than 10 per cent of the total 7.6 million arrivals to the destination.

And with new developments like the electronic tourist visa for Canadians and Air Canada’s upcoming Toronto-Delhi service, Kumar said that the time is right for travellers and agents to consider India’s active travel potential in addition to the country’s cultural and historic tourism offerings.

“It’s time to start looking at India beyond the leisure and culture aspects of travel and start looking at active travel, because we have a lot to offer,” he said. “That’s where a lot of travel is heading now.”

More information on the ATOAI is available at www.atoai.org.

PHOTO: (Front) Anil Oraw, director, India Tourism Toronto; Mohan Tickoo, managing director, KVT Holidays; Akshay Kumar, CEO, Mercury Himalayan Explorations & president, Adventure Tour Operators Association of India; Swadesh Kumar, managing director, Shikhar Travels; (back) Ramesh Wattal, managing director, Welcome Travels; Ravi Kalra, managing director, Travel Inn; Reeti & Akhilesh Mishra, consul general of India; Anindya Biswas, manager - marketing, Indian Outskirts; Rajesh Ojha, Banjara Camps & Retreats.