It’s an adrenaline rush of the sporty kind. The increased portrayal of exotic locales, high-end adventure sports, and exciting activities in Bollywood movies like snow hiking in Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, skydiving in Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, Saif Ali Khan’s water chase scenes in Race 2 has led to an increased interest among youngsters and vacationers for such exciting sports.

Adventure is scoring high on the holiday list, agree city youngsters, tour operators and travel enthusiasts.

Bollywood catalyst
“In India, Bollywood comes a close second only to cricket! We believe that movies bring significant visibility to offbeat destinations and activities, evoking the interest of not just youngsters but ardent movie-fans across all ages. For youngsters, travel is clearly not about covering a certain distance, but rather a voyage of discovery and having exciting and non-conventional experiences. Almost 45 per cent of our individual holiday travellers are youth, and this segment is poised to grow at an exponential rate of 25-30 per cent,” says Madhav Pai, director, Leisure Travel (Outbound), Thomas Cook (India) Ltd.

Action-packed
Adventure activity like i-flying, fissure snorkelling, ice-climbing, kayaking, snow-mobiling and glacier hiking among others are topping the holiday wishlist of youngsters. They’ve seen it on screen, and they’re raring to go.
“Depiction of adventure sports in Bollywood movies is making them popular in India — be it skydiving or scuba-diving. But what’s even better is that it is promoting Indian destinations; and being a scuba diver myself, I can assure you that the pristine waters of Lakshadweep and Andaman are crystal clear and anyday better than that of Thailand or Mauritius,” says entrepreneur and travel enthusiast Stuti Jalan.

New thrills
Apart from the popular sports, there are new entrants like zip touring that are gradually picking up. “India has a perfect mix of landscapes, climates and cultures for multiple adventure tourism and sports activities. Adventure, as long as it’s done safely and sensibly, is useful for personal development, health and fitness and challenges participants to push their boundaries. Zip touring or canopy tour gives you a bird’s eye-view of the forests, moves you across canyons and shows you landscapes that can’t be viewed from the ground. This is gradually gaining popularity,” says Richard McCallum of Flying Fox.
Trekking is another activity that is seeing a major boost. “Trekking is relatively cheaper and preferred by most college-goers as compared to other adventure sports like scuba-diving and snorkelling that are generally taken up by working professionals. There are several high altitude treks in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Kashmir that attract lots of tourists every year. Rohtang Pass, Mcleodganj and Bir-Biling in Himachal Pradesh are ideal spots for adventure camps,” says Sachin Dixit, amateur photographer and a travel enthusiast.

Social media
Not just Bollywood, new age media including networking sites like Facebook groups, Twitter and online travel portals are also increasing the popularity of these fun-filled vacations. “Today, the Indian traveller inherently seeks newer experiences and strives to pack more excitement into every vacation, and various media and information available at their disposal may further foster these aspirations. Bollywood is a popular media to disseminate information — though influences including digital media, which has grown immensely in recent years and has a great influence on new age travellers,” says Ratna Chadha, chief executive of Tirun Travel Marketing and India representative, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.