ATOAI 18th Annual Convention moves to Jim Corbett, Dec 13 to 16

The Adventure Tour Operators Association of India has set the dates for its 18th Annual Adventure Convention. The flagship gathering of India's organised adventure tourism trade will run from December 13 to 16, 2026, at Jim Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand, with the theme "India 365: Boundless Adventures".

Four days in Corbett country

ATOAI is organising the convention with the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, and the Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board. Yog Chinmoy Dutt, ATOAI's treasurer and chapter chair for the West Central region, is the convention chairman, with Mohit Gupta and Arvind Bharadwaj as co-chairs.

The four day programme covers plenary sessions and panel discussions, workshops on adventure safety protocols and risk management, business to business networking between regional and international operators, an exhibition of adventure tourism products, and what organisers call a low carbon footprint conference built around plastic free protocols and leave no trace principles. Field sessions in and around the park are also planned, in keeping with past conventions that have paired policy talks with on ground visits.

The pitch is a 365 day season

The theme is a direct response to the seasonality that shapes adventure tourism in India, where river rafting, trekking and Himalayan riding seasons open and shut with the monsoon and the snow line. ATOAI president Tejbir Singh Anand has described the aim as moving the industry "from periodic tourist surges to building resilient, high standard, year round adventure ecosystems," according to the announcement carried by Voyagers World. Uttarakhand tourism secretary Dhiraj Singh Garbyal called the convention a gathering of "the people who shape adventure travel in India."

Sessions are expected to focus on monsoon and winter travel corridors, the kind of shoulder season riding and driving routes that groups on this beat already sell as self drive trips through the Himalaya and the Western Ghats.

Why it matters if you ride or drive in India

ATOAI is the trade body that most registered Indian adventure tour operators belong to, and its annual convention is where safety standards, grading and government liaison on permits and access get discussed before they reach riders on the ground. The venue moves every year. The 17th convention was held in Srinagar from December 17 to 20, 2025, and brought together 219 adventure tourism stakeholders, according to ATOAI's own convention page. The 16th was held in Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh, from December 3 to 8, 2024.

The convention itself is a trade event, not open to the public the way a motorcycle rally is. Riders and drivers planning a guided trip will not attend sessions directly, but the themes set here, on safety workshops and off season routes, tend to show up later in operator itineraries and in ATOAI's safety circulars. Anyone wanting to track outcomes can follow ATOAI's news and circulars page once the convention concludes in December.

Sources

• ATOAI Announces Its 18th Annual Convention To Focus On Building Year-Round Adventure Tourism Destinations In India
• ATOAI to host 18th Annual Adventure Convention in Jim Corbett National Park, Uttarakhand from December 13-16
• ATOAI Unveils 'India 365: Boundless Adventures' to Promote All-Season Adventure Tourism
• ATOAI Conventions
• ATOAI News and Circulars