OUTBOUND TOUR operators are a demotivated lot these days. Because, they cannot motivate young Lucknowites to let go their site-seeing mindsets and enjoy thrill tourism to foreign destinations.
The other reason for lack of interest among Lucknowites to take up adventure tourism is the cost of getting trained by experts especially for para sailing and bungee jumping in foreign locations which are exorbitant. An hour of para sailing in South Africa could cost upwards of $ 300 (US) for an hour, informed a tour operator here.
The laid-back tourist from Lucknow is not interested in going for either Scuba Diving in the Maldives or bungee jumping in New Zealand. The surging outbound tourist traffic from Lucknow is still focused on siteseeing trips and shopping in foreign locations such as Dubai or Singapore, he said.
The latest craze among young tourists from Lucknow is to go on cruise rides on the high seas. The lack of interest for adventure tourism stems from the fact that most tourists have no exposure to real adventure such as para-sailing in the domestic circuit. “In the neighbouring Uttaranchal state, there are locations ideal for para-sailing and the government in that state had been promoting adventure tourism. There are not many tourists from Uttar Pradesh who avail themselves of even this opportunity,” he said.
“An average tourist from Lucknow would travel to a foreign destinations such as Switzerland, Malaysia or Bangkok just once compared to tourists in the metros who prefer repeated visits to locations where there are options of para sailing or water sports are in plenty”, informed Vivek Pandey Head (UP & Uttaranchal) of Delhi Express Holidays.
{{/usCountry}}“An average tourist from Lucknow would travel to a foreign destinations such as Switzerland, Malaysia or Bangkok just once compared to tourists in the metros who prefer repeated visits to locations where there are options of para sailing or water sports are in plenty”, informed Vivek Pandey Head (UP & Uttaranchal) of Delhi Express Holidays.
{{/usCountry}}The tour operators looking for “Special Interest Tourism” markets abroad are continuing to try getting Lucknowites interested in adventure sports for the past two years now. “We have found that there isn’t really too many takers for foreign adventure tourism locations from Lucknow,” Pandey added.