In seventies and eighties the Adventure Tourism had really taken off in Kashmir and it was developing into a world class destination for this specialised sector of Tourism. Unfortunately the upheaval of 1990 and the kidnapping of five trekkers in Pahalgam area gave it a tremendous set back. In fact this activity completely vanished from the valley. Now that the situation is gradually easing out and tourism is on way to revival, it would be advisable to concentrate on this specialised sector of tourism. These activities do not require elaborate infrastructure and are more service oriented. Because of being hazardous in nature, one has to have an efficient organisation of search and rescue supported by a fool proof communication system. Most of the foreign tourists are insured for search and rescue in case of any problems but because of the absence of any reliable private organisation in Himalaya they are reluctant to come here. However, in early nineties we had established an excellent communications net of high frequency radios through tourism department with imported equipment. The link was established between Leh, Kargil, Padam, Srinagr, Kishtwar, Jammu, and Delhi. All expeditions were monitored, and a number of rescue missions were undertaken in collaboration with Air Force and Army. This helped in saving lives of many adventure sports enthusiasts all over the state. I had the opportunity of personally participating in a few rescue missions in Ladakh area. The system can be revived once it is decided to promote adventure tourism on a large scale. In fact, the Indian Mountaineering Foundation has adopted the J & K model and presently rescue and communication equipment is being imported to set up a similar system all over the Himalaya. Most of the Adventure Tourism activities are part of Eco-Tourism in the larger context but one has to regulate these very strictly to avoid damage to fragile mountain environment. One has to aim for sustainable tourism. We must determine the carrying capacity of our areas for these activities and then ensure that we do not exceed the optimum level as is being done in a number of countries. A typical example is Bhutan. The ideal way is to enforce a strict regulatory control over the entry of various expeditions and groups. These can be charged some environment levy to pay for keeping the mountains clean. Such a levy is already being charged by the Indian Mountaineering Foundation (IMF) from foreign mountaineering expeditions, which gives a share of all these royalties to Himalayan states for undertaking cleaning expeditions. However, trekking groups and some other adventure activity participants are not obliged to go through IMF. These have to be controlled by the local authorities. All these regulatory activities concerning environment and management of different areas can generate appreciable employment. In addition one would need guides, high altitude porters, and trained instructors. These can be recruited from among the local youth in these remote mountain areas and trained in some of the mountaineering institutes already existing in the state such as the Jawahar Institute of Mountaineering in Pahalgam. Developing Adventure Tourism on a larger scale can also give boost to import and sale of some of the specialised equipments required for these activities. In view of these possibilities it would be useful for the State Tourism Authorities to make Adventure Tourism as an important thrust area for future development of tourism in the State. Kashmir, hopefully, would one day become the "Ultimate Destination" for all adventure lovers of the world!
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Tags & Keywords : Kashmir, beautiful himalayan valley, tourist paradise, challenging environment, good for adventure, mountaineering, allied activities