Rishikesh Welcomes 4,000 Tourists for River Rafting during Sept 26 -Oct 4

Uttarakhand is witnessing a continuous upsurge in the number of tourists ever since the state government has allowed relaxations in the protocols being followed amidst Covid-19 pandemic.

According to the recent data shared by President of Rafting Association, Rishikesh, Dinesh Bhatt, Rishikesh alone-recorded over 4000 tourist’s inflow since Sep 26, following the reopening of the popular white-water river rafting adventure activity in the city. The adventure tour operators who conduct river rafting in Rishikesh, received almost 90% more bookings from places like UP, Delhi and Haryana, which was way above their expectations for the first day itself. Enquiries for advance bookings continue to pour in for the next two weeks.

Rajpal Yadav, owner of rafting operator agency in Rishikesh says, “We are extremely elated with the opening up of adventure tourism in Rishikesh and are seeing a continuous increase in the number of rafting lovers. We hope that the tourists visiting for rafting activities will adhere to all the safety norms in regards of Covid and enjoy their visit in Uttarakhand.”

“Adventure Tourism contributes to a majority part in the state’s overall tourism industry. I am happy that our step towards resuming the adventure sport activities has heeded the desired results and has attracted large number of adventure seekers in the state. While, we have opened up the activities for the tourists, I also expect full cooperation from all the stakeholders to ensure effective implementation of rules and guidelines to control the spread of COVID-19 in the state. There has been a steady increase in the number of tourists appearing for rafting in the last four years. 68,604 tourists arrived in the year 2017 from September to December, over 3,49,736 in 2018, 3,34,753 in 2019 and 29,932 tourists till March 2020 have enjoyed river rafting. On the other hand, after the commencement of adventure sports activities in Uttarakhand over 19,872 tourists have arrived in the state from October 2nd to 5^th,” Dilip Jawalkar, Secretary, Uttarakhand Tourism, said.