OVER 8,000 TOURISTS ARRIVED IN RISHIKESH FOR RAFTING SINCE PAST 10 DAYS

8, 000 VISITED FOR RIVER RAFTING IN RISHIKESH

Just Within 10 days of opening adventure tourism and sports activities in Uttarakhand by following the new guidelines under Unlock 5, Rishikesh alone witnessed over 8,000 tourists who arrived for river rafting.

Almost 90% more bookings were from places like Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Haryana, which was way above their expectations for the first day itself says the local adventure operator.

According to the latest data shared by Rishikesh Rafting Association President Dinesh Bhatt, It said that Rishikesh alone witnessed over 8,000 tourists since 26th of September and enquiries for bookings continue to be occupied in the next two weeks with almost all the local rafting operators.

Rajpal Yadav, the owner of a rafting operator agency in Rishikesh, said that “We are extremely excited with the opening up of adventure tourism in Rishikesh and are seeing an enormous increase in the number of river rafting lovers. We hope that the tourists visiting for rafting activities will adhere to all the safety norms about Covid-19 and enjoy their visit.”

There has been a constant increase in the number of tourists arriving for rafting in the last four years. As many as 68,604 tourists arrived for rafting in the state in 2017 between September and December, while the figure boosted to 3,49,736 in 2018, and lowered to 3,34,753 in 2019. The state notified 29,932 tourists who visited Uttarakhand for adventure sports till March 2020. After the opening of adventure sports in Uttarakhand, over 19,872 tourists have arrived in the state between October 2 and 5.

Dilip jawalker, secretary, Uttarakhand tourism, said that“After the announcement on opening up of adventure tourism in the state has already pumped up the adrenaline among adventure seekers who have lined up to participate in various adventure sports activities like river rafting, bungee jumping, flying fox, etc. and said that We are expecting more people to visit the state in the coming days".