SRINAGAR:  To facilitate adventure tourism in the State, the department of tourism is in the process of finalizing the first ever guidelines for adventure activities being carried out by various agencies.

The guidelines envisage registration of the Adventure Tour Operators, granting them proper permission for carrying out adventure activities, minimum requirements needed including equipment, safety norms, Dos and Don’ts for any agency to conduct such adventure activity in the State.

Secretary Tourism said, J&K has huge potential in adventure tourism and many domestic and international tourists visit the state for adventure activities, “but unlike other states we never had adventure tourism guidelines”.

“We want to frame the guidelines as per GoI norms and are aimed at setting high standards for carrying out adventure sports activities which will help us in tapping huge potential of adventure tourism which has not been properly harnessed due to lack of standard regulation and safety norms. It is therefore important to have proper guidelines for this important tourism segment which attracts good number of tourists and locals also,” said Secretary Tourism.