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Size-friendly tours for overweight travellers
DPA

San Francisco, Oct 5 (DPA) Travel guide Liz Nichols has two strict rules for people who sign up for her underwater diving course. First, no discussions about dieting are allowed and, second, no nasty chatter about each other's size is tolerated.

Under the name Big Adventures, Nichols organises underwater diving courses for people who are all too familiar with snide remarks about their weight.

Nichols herself is 1.69 metres tall and weighs 130 kg, and when she discovered her love of underwater diving five years ago, nothing - not even stares from slim participants or diving suits for slender people - could stop her from pursuing it.

Being fat is not a death sentence, said the 43-year-old psychologist, who predicts growth in the number and type of vacation offers for overweight people.

It's not surprising that vacations for overweight people are developing as a business in the US because about one-third of the population is obese and another third is overweight, US health authorities have estimated. Many do not want to let their weight stop them from having a good time.

Nichols works both in California and Hawaii, pairing up with diving equipment stores that followed her advice and began offering size-friendly service and diving gear.

Those stores put more weights on diving belts to ensure overweight people do not have to struggle to keep from floating to the surface while on a dive.

Nichols has never had to refuse anyone because their bodies were too big for the suits. The only prerequisite is that her customers, most of whom are women, are able to swim 200 metres without losing their breath.

Overweight people have other vacation options designed just for them. Those with less athletic prowess can go to a party held every July in the US gambling paradise Las Vegas.

Joann Bellemore, founder of the Big Beautiful Women Network, started the event eight years ago with a handful of friends. It now attracts about 500 heavy men and women. The programme includes a belly-dancing course, a costume contest and a pool party.

Fun for fat people is what Barbara Salas promises on cruises for overweight people she has organized since 2003. In addition to her Caribbean excursions, she hopes to offer cruise ship tours next year off the coasts of Alaska and California.

When a fat person travels alone and sees 50 thinner people on the dance floor, it can make them feel bad, Salas said. But when a group of 20 or 30 fat people venture out together they all have fun.

The increasing number of leisure activities designed specifically for overweight people includes dance workshops in New York and Boston offered by the California group Big Moves.

The organisers of a San Francisco event called Big Boogie Nights want to expand this year to New York, and "size-friendly" vacation resorts such as Freedom Paradise in Mexico offer comforts to heavier clientele, including showers, beds and hammocks big enough to fit their bodies.


Indo-Asian News Service