Skydiving school to come up in Andhra Pradesh

Visakhapatnam: If everything goes as per plan, Vizagites and tourists will soon have the ultimate experience in free-flight skydiving in Vizag city.

The AP Tourism Development Corporation, in association with the Rajasthan-based Aero Sports Adventure Club, has decided to set up a skydiving school at Rushikonda area in Vizag.

Skydiving is slowly catching up among adventure freaks in Andhra Pradesh even as more people are now taking to the thrilling aero sport in other states where the facilities are available.

The school will be offering skydiving training in Vizag. “Skydiving will pick up and spread its roots in the state. It will draw tourists from all parts of the world and will promote adventure tourism,” said CEO of APTDC  MD Himanshu Shukla. The role of APTDC is to support the adventure club by providing infrastructure.

Stakeholders in the tourism industry say that not every tourist can afford skydiving as it is an expensive affair and one jump needs two days of training. Skydiving is hugely popular in countries such as the United States, New Zealand, Spain and a few other countries. If APTDC promotes the adventure sport, it will generate good revenue for the government, they added.

The Scuba Diving Academy located at Chintapalle in Vizianagaram district will be operational from November, this year.

“APTDC, with the support of Livein Adventures, a Vizag-based firm that conducts water sports activities, has set up the academy with an investment of around '2 crore,” Mr Shukla said.