The travel industry’s downbeat pace was one of the inordinate effects of the Covid-19 pandemic that continues to hound the travel space, on its recovery from the dry spell, amid short-lived, resurgent waves of the coronavirus. The travel sector was one of the worst affected zones since the onset of Covid-19 due to the closures of international borders, air travel restrictions, mass unemployment, and profits almost zeroed out.
India is regarded as one of the most loved travel destinations across the world, with over ten million footfalls each year, in pre-Covid times. The travel aficionados came to witness the architectural exemplariness of monuments, emboldened history, heritage, cultural traditions and artistic hubs that are a source of livelihood to millions of artisans, patrons, and craftsmen.
To hyphenate the revival of inbound tourism, heritage site tours along with hot air ballooning can be a great way to recalibrate the future of millions of people and reorient the travel landscape to newer heights. Hot air Ballooning is an underrated sports adventure that is still not widely incorporated into mainstream travel fulcrum. But it is a quite popular and engaging activity that has the capacity to be a crowd-pulling feature of travel and tours.
India is a tourist hotspot with millions of heritage sites widely distributed across the Indian topography. Heritage site visits through hot air ballooning can be a promising way to revive domestic tourism and add a thrilling spike to the itinerary. Hot air balloon tours are an entertaining getaway for families and children, that will motivate them to pay visits to a certain travel site or monument. It will pique peoples’ interests but also be a major source of tourist attraction.
India is a country of great historical magnificence and has the most beautiful destinations to explore and visit. The government takes multiple measures to offer the best facilities to the tourists to enjoy their visit. In the same series, the Taj Mahal (Agra), Pushkar (Rajasthan), Hampi (Karnataka), and many others already exist on the list providing hot air balloon rides, offering the most beautiful aerial experiences of these sites. The concept has been wholeheartedly welcomed by the tourists and utilised by massive numbers of people visiting the spots. This encourages the government to promote hot air balloon ride facilities at various other locations that’ll eventually benefit both the tourism sector and the tourists.
As a matter of fact, North East India is one of the best places to go for hot-air balloon rides because of the favourable climatic conditions, visit-worthy spectacular places, and seraphic, scenic topography. The North-East region is one of the most unexplored places in India, the beauty of which can be effusively enjoyed through hot air balloon rides. It can also boost tourism in the areas of the North-East and also enhance the accessibility and economy of the region. Some of the most popular heritage sites of North-Rast are Kaziranga National Park, Assam (declared a World Heritage site in 1985), Apatani Cultural Landscape, Arunachal Pradesh, Namdapha National Park, Arunachal Pradesh, Keibul Lamjao National Park, Manipur, Majuli, Assam. They can also be apt places for hot air balloon rides boosting the regional connectivity and also encouraging Indians and foreigners to explore the North-East.
As peoples’ attention spans have exhausted during the pandemic period, hot air balloon rides will add a significant plus and increase the visibility and appeal of a site or a place. It will rejuvenate peoples’ curiosity and a particular site promoting hot air balloon rides will get maximum revisits as well.
These tours will also introduce a much-needed modern addition to the travel industry of India. It will also add an element of sports and adventure to the archaic monument visits. Schools of various regions can plan a historical plus adventure trip with hot air balloon rides. Students will also learn new things about hot air ballooning, which is rare to dabble professional field in India and can probably up a new sphere of employment for newcomers.
Hot-air balloon rides are an excellent choice for the government to encourage inbound tourism and cushion the lull in the tourism sector after Covid-19.
As the Covid-19 cases have reported a significant drop and the summer vacations are going on, families are going to hill stations like Manali, Nainital, Shimla, Mussoorie etc, to take a break from the torrid summers. Adventure sports are very famous in these regions, and hot air ballooning can be a fascinating addition to it. It will also alleviate the unemployment problem and increase the tourist footfall in these places.
Hot air ballooning is one of the niche sport adventures that should get its due in the coming times, especially since new ideas and innovations are changing the dated cultural beliefs and prejudicial thinking. It will accentuate inbound tourism and also take India a step closer to making hot air ballooning a part of mainstream sports culture.
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Disclaimer
Views expressed above are the author’s own.
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