I still remember fondly the moments when as
a child in my small town I ran with hundreds of other children to see a
helicopter landing ferrying a big wig from the armed forces, a bevy of political
leaders, and the like. That image still remains firmly entrenched in my mind and
the helicopter remains associated with the privileged or so-called VIPs this
trend however is set to see a major shift. The then unattainable is coming into
easy reach with changing mindset of youngsters. These beautiful machines have
started finding applications for religious activities, like the famous Chardham Yatra by Helicopter and various
leisure tourist circuits. This could open up huge opportunities in many
relatively difficult/inaccessible places that could be of significant tourist
interest and where road/rail infrastructure could take eons to shape up (if
ever). India with its huge geographic, climatic as well as cultural diversity
has immense potential for Heli Tourism especially in mountainous areas, island
territories, and geographic peculiarities such as Kutch, Sunderbans, etc.
Imagine yourself in the verdant countryside or
a national park or biosphere reserve, difficult to reach with purity intact,
crystal clear water, zillions of stars, and no pollution and crowds. In all
likelihood difficult to navigate even for your city-bred SUV. In another
scenario when you want to pack Char Dham Yatra in a day. Heli Tourism is the
logical answer in all such scenarios and has made big forays in countries like
Australia, New Zealand, the USA, Maldives, France South Africa, and Kenya.
In India Choppers generally, can be
chartered for anything from Rs 70,000 to Rs 2.5 lakh, depending on the aircraft
and the itinerary. In general (except for some religious itineraries) the whole
machine is chartered. Seat options are available to religious places like
Vaishno Devi and Amaranth where some travel agents also provide allied services
such as Darshan token etc. Tourist numbers to Amarnath, Kedarnath, and Vaishno
Devi have surged after Pawan Hans Company started helicopter services there.
Similarly, adventure tourists in India are discovering new opportunities such
as heli-skiing in areas not accessible by chairlifts, etc. in areas such as
Solang Valley in Himachal. Similarly, helicopter services can be highly useful
in the Island territories of The Andamans as well as the Lakshadweep islands by making
it possible for tourists to visit a number of different islands. This can
increase tourism to these areas manifold as this provides a fast and cost-effective option as compared to ships or fixed-wing aircraft. Helicopter
itineraries of the Golden Triangle (Delhi, Agra, and Jaipur) have also gained
popularity among well-heeled tourists pressed for time.
People in the industry estimate the market size
of heli-tourists in proportion to the total industry is quite minuscule as of now.
Kerala Tourism Development Corporation KTDC had started such services in 2006
along with some other private initiatives but these initiatives did not find
much traction at that time. Primary issues were prohibitive pricing, regulatory
hurdles, and a general insensitivity or lack of appreciation of the importance
of the sector at the Government or regulatory authorities level. Lack of
infrastructure like helipads also posed a constraint as did a lack of well-defined
mechanisms for seeking landing permissions etc.
However good news is around the corner.
Heli-tourism seems to have found a champion in the Central Government and the
Government seems to be considering separate corridors on busy routes for
helicopters as well as quadrupling the population of civilian helicopters in
the next few years. While states like Kerala Karnataka, Andaman and Nicobar
Islands, Jammu and Kashmir, and Himachal have experimented with heli tourism in
the past; the projects remained largely stillborn due to the above factors.
However recent years have seen more states such as Bihar and Gujarat taking
interest and travel companies have also noted an increase in the number of such
inquiries.
Facilitation mechanisms that need to be
shored up are easy norms for machine acquisition, smoother processes for
landing permissions, more helipads in inaccessible places, and facilitating per-seat operating plans, especially on event-based tourism and the industry will
surge. The industry also has a perfect match with micro tourism offers of Eco-Tourism, Homestay in India, and village tourism. This can open up huge
opportunities for isolated communities in areas such as the tribal belt of
Himachal, the forests of Sunderbans, or environmentally sensitive zones of North
East states.
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