Here in India to participate in the 16th Adventure Tour Operators Association of India (ATOAI) conference in Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh, Gustavo Timo, vice president – sustainability and impact,Adventure Travel Trade Association (ATTA) spoke about India’s potential to emerge as a top adventure travel destination of the world and how ATTA can support India gain its rightful place on the global adventure tourism map.
Timo said that India has everything that an international adventure traveller looks for – biodiversity hotspots, diverse landscapes, weather zones, rich culture and heritage. “India can truly be a leader in Adventure tourism. Potential is huge,” he said.
Talking specifically about Arunachal Pradesh, Timo said that it’s blessed with world class rivers, peaks and unique people and culture to become world class adventure destination.
As a Brazilian, he compared opportunities and challenges of big geographies like India and Brazil similar in aptly communicating the sheer diversity properly to the world.
“We believe India is truly ready and we recognise the huge potential of India and ready to support and partner in the growth story,” he said.
Chief Minister of Gujarat, Bhupendra Patel will also address the gathering during the event. The adventure tourism convention, which is part of the Vibrant Gujarat Summit will also be a carbon-negative and single-use-plastic free event. As the host state, Gujarat will unveil its visionary perspective on “Gujarat, on the Threshold of a New Adventure Tourism Destination.” Furthermore, the state will also reveal enticing incentives for investors keen on exploring the untapped adventure tourism potential of the region.
ATTA will be bringing it’s AdventureNext event to India 2025 as part of introducing India to international market. AdventureNext is the first step of the ATTAs engagement with a market, he said. Beyond that ATTA has AdventureElevate and Adventure Travel World Summit In the AdventureNext, ATTA in consultation with the ATOAI will identify priority markets and invite key buyers and media from there for the event. “It’s the first step to the Adventure Travel World Summit roadmap,” he said. The number of international buyer participation can vary between 100 and 200, he said
While the domestic market size of India itself is a leveraging point for outdoor adventures, Timo said that it can backfire if it’s not backed up with proper framework, capacity building, education around vsustainable and responsible adventure.
He said that in Brazil they have put together the framework backed with legislation and currently reached the stage of implementation. He said that right implementation of standards and frameworks depends on the maturity of the trade and industry in countries.
