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Adventure Tourism in Meghalaya 2167 0269 1000350
Adventure Tourism in Meghalaya 2167 0269 1000350
Adventure Tourism in Meghalaya 2167 0269 1000350
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Abstract
The world is observing fast growth in the field of adventure sports due to the wide range of scope it provides to
the tourists. There is still a need to study and understand the core importance of this subject to better understand the
customers’ taste and preference. The research tries importance of adventure tourism in Khasi hills of Meghalaya.
Every effort was made to acquire relevant data from the respondents and get a clear picture of adventure tourism in
Khasi hills. This research shows that 88% of the tourist prefers to undertake adventure activities in Meghalaya. Data
also shows that there have been various problems that have hindered tourists to reach important tourist destinations
like problem of transportation and lack of knowledge about the destinations. The importance of trekking in Meghalaya
as an important adventure tourism activity is really commendable, almost 50% of the respondent likes to participate
trekking in Meghalaya.
Keywords: Adventure; Tourism; Meghalaya; Shillong; Cherrapunjee; cultural heritage which acts as a natural attraction for short sojourn by
Trekking tourists. The special attractions are: Shillong Golf Course, Cherrapunjee
(Sohra)-the wettest place in the world, caves, wildlife sanctuaries,
Introduction biosphere reserves and Umiam (Barapani) - a high altitude lake. Some
Adventure tourism is a form of niche tourism which involves of the famous tourist spots are Umiam lake, Nohsngithiang falls at
exploration and travelling to far-flung areas, where the traveller should Mawsmai, Kyllang rock and the monoliths of Nartiang.
expect the unexpected [1,2]. Mountaineering expedition, trekking, There are two leading adventure tourism companies in Shillong:
rafting, bungee jumping and rock climbing are often cited as examples
The Pioneer Adventure and The Cultural Pursuits Adventure. These
of adventure tourism [3-6]. If looked from a theoretical perspective,
two companies offer some exciting adventure activities and tours to
all tourism activities can be defined as adventurous as they are made
the tourist, such as; camping tour, canoeing, caving, cliff jumping, local
around the dialectic motives of escape from the normal and quest for
the novel. Adventure tourism can also be described [4-8] in terms of boating, mountaineering, trekking tour, river rafting, rock climbing,
its motivation as it is difficult to understand that why would someone scuba diving, zip lining, trekking tour services, Mawphlang sacred
risk his or her life to climb a mountain or throw oneself off a bridge groove natural walk, Maple pine Firm David Scott trail, Maple pine
with a rope tied to his or her feet. Traditional methods describe the farm hiking Meghalaya and Kaziranga tour and living root bridge of
motivation of such sports as deliberate risk and uncertainty seeking. Meghalaya tour.
Outdoor adventurers pursue activities that contain threats to their life, The north east have remarkable potential for adventure,
mainly for thrill and excitement [9-12]. environment tourism, and the setting up of finer educational
North east has remarkable potential for adventure, environment institutions due to the conducive climate, environment and people,
tourism, and the setting up of finer educational institutions due to the with wonderful cultural ethos. The Khasi hills have more potential for
conducive climate, environment and people, with wonderful cultural overland travel, jungle base tourism like hiking, trekking, water based
ethos. Meghalaya has the vast potentials to organise this opportunities sports like water skiing, canoeing, river rafting, fishing, aero based
into creative packaged tour to lure different tourists from different adventure activities like hang gliding, sky diving, bungee jumping and
parts of the country and abroad [13-18]. “The quaint village of sports related adventure activities like mountain biking, golfing and
Mawlynnong now packaged as Asia’s Cleanest Village and named by car rallying, cycling. Caving and mountaineering are also in the very
the locals as God’s Own Garden is becoming a must-see destination ground state of development, therefore these two adventurous activities
for a large number of tourists. Foreigners have anyway been coming to can also form huge future potentials through extensive promotions.
Mawlynnong since last ten years but now we see more inland tourists Some of the caves like Mawsmai, Mawsynram and Syndai are visited
coming to chill out and explore this hidden piece of heaven” [19-26]. by tourists every year.
Objective
• To find out the different adventure activities that can be carried *Corresponding author: Saibal Kumar Saha, Sikkim Manipal Institute of
out in Khasi hills Technology, Sikkim Manipal University, India, Tel: 9903245847; E-mail:
saibal115@yahoo.co.in
• To find out the preference of adventure activities of tourists
Received April 07, 2018; Accepted April 19, 2018; Published April 26, 2018
Literature Review Citation: Saha SK, Babai TC, Saha S (2018) Adventure Tourism in Meghalaya. J
Tourism Hospit 7: 350. doi: 10.4172/2167-0269.1000350
Meghalaya is blessed with picturesque landscape [6], conducive
geo‐ecological settings, legendry and mythological sites, sparkling Copyright: © 2018 Saha SK, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under
the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted
waterfalls, rich traditional culture and warm and hospitable people. use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and
Blessed with a salubrious climate, the abode of clouds has a rich source are credited.
Page 2 of 7
80
40% of the tourist are the regular travellers (Figure 7).
Number of people
60
Preference of adventure tourism
This analysis show the potential of adventure, majority of the
40
tourists (88%) who visited Shillong likes adventure tourism activities
20 (Figure 8).
Page 3 of 7
88%
Figure 5: Data Analysis of respondents (Preference rating). Figure 8: Data Analysis of respondents (Preference of adventure tourism).
16
14
45%
12
40% 38%
10 36%
8 35%
6
30%
4
2 25%
37% 3% 3% 11%18% 3% 3% 3% 3% 3% 5% 8% 3%
0 20%
15%
15%
10%
5% 5%
5%
0%
1 2 3 4 5
80%
Frequency of travelling 70%
70%
2% 3%
1 60%
5% 2 50%
6%
3 40%
40% 8% 4 30% 24%
5
20%
9% 6
10% 5%
7
11% 0%
8
16% never no yes
9
Figure 10: Data Analysis of respondents (Overnight camping preference in
Figure 7: Data Analysis of respondents (Frequency of travelling). Meghalaya).
Page 4 of 7
shown the interest to purchase tour package from Tour Operator (TO)
(Figure 12). 80%
71%
Overall Meghalaya tourism rating 70%
This analysis shows that there still requires many things to do to 60%
progress in tourism sector (Figure 13).
50%
Trekking preference in Meghalaya
40%
71% of the respondent likes trekking in Meghalaya (Figure 14).
30% 26%
Preference of adventure activities
20%
In fact trekking alone is the most preferred adventure activity in
Meghalaya which accounts 28% (Figure 15). 10%
3%
Trekking rating in Meghalaya 0%
No Not undertaken Yes
Majority of the tourist contacted (38%) said trekking in Meghalaya Figure 14: Data Analysis of respondents (Trekking preference in Meghalaya).
is adventurous, followed by fun 18% and best trip 15% (Figure 16).
30% 28%
30% 25%
26% 26% 26%
20% 17%
25%
21% 15% 11%
best
10% 8%
20% 6% 6%
excellent
3% 3% 3% 3% 3% 3% 3% 3% 3%
not undertaken
5%
15% 0%
trekking, golfing,…
trekking, canoeing,…
trekking, golfing,…
trekking,…
trekking, caving. Hiking
canoeing
paragliding
N/A
hiking
trekking
trekking, canoeing
others
10%
good
5%
0%
Figure 11: Data Analysis of respondents (Adventure tourism rating in
Meghalaya). Figure 15: Data Analysis of respondents (Preference of adventure activities).
adventurous
13%
best trip
3% fun
DIY
3%
tour operator 6%
3% 9% fun, best trip,
38%
adventurous
3%
75%
fun, leisure, best
18% trip, adventurous
3% 15% fun, safety, leisure,
Figure 12: Data Analysis of respondents (Preference either DIY( Do It Yourself) best trip
or TO). N/A
others
0%
2 3 4 5
Reason of not visiting tourist spots in Meghalaya
Figure 13: Data Analysis of respondents (Overall Meghalaya tourism rating).
Transportation problem and the lack of knowledge about the
Page 5 of 7
places are the two major reasons of the tourist for not visiting the Activity preference in Dawki
tourist destination (Figure 17).
50% of tourist likes local boating in Dawki. This shows a huge
Less attractive place rated by respondent potential to develop this particular activity in Dawki (Figure 20).
Highest number of tourist has rated Shillong peak as less attractive Overall hotel service rating
tourist destination. While 14% of the tourists have also said that none
of the place in Meghalaya are less attractive (Figure 18). Hotel service providers provide average quality of service in
Shillong (Figure 21).
Most attractive place rated by respondent
Tour package purchase
Cherrapunjee, Dawki, Elephant falls Mawlynnong village and
all other falls are rated as attractive tourist destination in Meghalaya Only 8% of the tourist have purchased tour package from the
(Figure 19). tour operator whereas other 93% did not purchase any package
(Figure 22).
Mawlynnong village
3% Mawsynram No
Yes
Mostly all falls 93%
Ranikor
Shillong peak
Figure 19: Most attractive place rated by respondents. Figure 22: Data Analysis of respondents (Tour package purchase).
Page 6 of 7
Page 7 of 7
rating of 4-5 out of 5 which shows a quite good feedback about 8. Shillong times (2013) Developing tourism Industry in Meghalaya.
hotel service in Shillong. 9. Walsh T (2011) Adventure Tourism. Discovery Publishing House Pvt ltd.
• Only 8% of the tourist have purchased tour package from 10. David DA (2015) Ecotourism. (4th edn.), Routledge, NY.
the tour operator whereas other 93% did not purchase any 11. Khanka SS (2012) Entrepreneurial Development. S Chand Publishing, New
package. Tour package are found to be very helpful by majority Delhi.
of the tourist. 12. Zimba DT (2005) Geography of Meghalaya. Zimba Publication, Shillong.
• Accommodation in Hotel is preferred by 53%, is the highest 13. INTACH (2003) Ministry of Tourism, Government of India.
preference followed by resort 18% and 5-10% of the tourist also 14. CII’s Tourism Fest to Promote North as Tourist destination (2013) Chandigarh.
preferred eco-lodge.
15. Wikieducator (2008) Adventure Tourism.
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