Adventure Tourism

 Adventure Tourism,

Enjoy moments traveling with your adrenaline

Adventure tourism involves experiencing your destination through physically participating in activities. This can involve a variety of actions such as; hiking, snorkeling, sky diving, and much more. Therefore, adventure tourism appeals to those seeking adrenaline and thrill. It involves removing oneself from the everyday routine and inserting yourself into something unfamiliar. Whether that is a new culture and its traditions, or exposure to recreation that the destination is known for. Adventure tourism locations are often referred to as ¨bucket list¨ destinations. 

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Trekking as an example of adventure tourism, is one of the latest trends in tourism in the world. It is treated primarily as a modern form of adventure tourism and geotourism. On one hand, due to the extreme terrain where it can be practiced and a certain dose of adrenaline, is treated as a form of an adventure tourism. The desire to achieve, acquire, and reach out to many of the most difficult places decide on the characteristics of a sports competition.

Although, it seems that in today's world all the places have already been discovered, still there may appear new challenges. On the other hand, the beauty of trekking relies on that it is implemented in an extraordinary and stunning natural and geological environment. 

Although many challenges, tourists are attracted by geodiversity and fascinating landscapes, changing weather conditions or spiritual survival. It is often associated only with mountains, but it must be emphasized that one may distinguish eight types of trekking, these are: mountain, desert, tropical, glacial, polar, river, swamps and volcanic trekking. All of these allow a person to come true in very unusual circumstances. People also discover and learn about their own abilities, both mental and physical.

Modern trekker has a much more opportunities of exploration of challenging environments. Comfortable clothing and equipment ensure a high level of safety. Adventurers and explorers functioned quite differently for ages, they were condemned to intuition, and had only to wipe the migratory paths on which now a larger and larger groups of tourists are wondering.

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As already briefly introduced in the previous paragraph, trekking tourism is based on adventure, sport and discovering new destinations. But trekking is not the only example we have on the list, there are various concepts of adventures that combined with travel and discovery fall into this category of adventure tourism:

Spelunking:

Another yet famous adventure tourism activity is the Spelunking also known as the caving. If we put it into the simple terms then it’s all about exploring the caves for adventure purpose.

It is becoming one of the most favorite options in adventure tourism.

It comprises of trying to squeeze and pass through the caves, tight passages, and more. For someone who is looking out for a thrilling adventure can also opt for various cave levels or perhaps even explore the underwater.

Skiing:

One of the best adventure types that can take place in the snow is snowboarding and snowshoeing. But our favorite is skiing. For the travelers who do not mind the cold weather should certainly check out skiing.

This type of adventure activity includes almost everything. From staying in resort to backcountry skiing, snowshoe traverses, and much more.

Free Falling:

Every time the word free falling pops up, there’s an image forming in our head and that is bungee jumping and skydiving. Both of them are a part of adventure tourism.

Free Falling is similar to bungee jumping and skydiving, but it is designed with fewer risks.

Sailing:

For the adventure travelers, the sailing might not be considered as the greatest adventure. However, the small ship cruises to Antarctica, Alaska, and the Falklands can be definitely exhilarating.

This type of adventure tourism include small cruises which are intimate and of course, allow the fellow travelers to know each other better. Unlike the huge cruises, which carry many tourists, the smaller ones help you in discover the rewarding places.

Zip Lining:

Zip Lining is a popular adventure tourism activity that means it is available in any part of the world. For the explorers who are consistently seeking excitement without going overboard should go for zip lining.

It comprises of one or many cables that are suspended between the trees and manmade construction. The zip lining is designed to bring the adrenaline rush and enjoy the natural surroundings of the forest and waterfalls.

Rafting:

A famous but common adventure tourism activity is rafting. It can be considered as soft adventure spot as well as the hard adventure depending upon the type of location.

To assure your inner thirst for the traveling, go for the big rafting experience. And if you are thinking for a calming adventure experience then visit at the low water levels.

Cycling:

Last but not least comes the cycling which is another way of transportation. Some of the travelers prefer to explore the destination on the bike rather than going on foot.

It gives you a faster pace and an amazing landscape to check out. Mountain biking is also a similar experience which is challenging but electrifying.

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The Adventure tourism how can be helpful in the industry:

How can Adventure tourism help and develop the local economy and the environment, It often leads to the creation of more jobs, helps create specialized services to cater to this sector, and even result in other industries being created on account of tourist interest, e.g. mountaineering classes for beginners in French Alps. It should be pointed out that more tourists are opting for the adventure package rather than the regular package, which has naturally resulted in more bookings. 
As a result of the interest shown in adventure sports and given the consumer awareness of environmental issues, more companies have started focusing on creating environmentally friendly tourist packages, with a focus on renewable energies. As a result, more companies have started to focus more on training and helping the locals to sustain their natural environment better. From helping them combat water shortages to educating tourists not to litter, these tourist companies are doing all they can to help preserve the pristine region.

The cost of starting up a recreational centre for adventure tourism is relatively low as compared to the other types of tourism. Therefore, it is easy for one to set up in any economic region and can be set up by a local or foreign investor.

The rise of the tourism industry in any area creates job opportunities for locals and foreigners. The jobs are created as a result of the development projects which may need both experts and casual laborers. They also employ local guides, use of local transport and local supplies among others.

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How to divide the venturiere 
activities according to your tastes:

Hard Adventure 

Hard adventure includes trekking, climbing (mountain, rock and ice) and caving. These activities are high risk and require a high level of specialized skill. Unsurprisingly, these represented small percentages of the population but still uncovered a sizable market. The trend over the past three years indicates that the number of hard adventure trips has held steady, at around 2% of the population. However, respondents in Latin America and Europe indicated that they intended to take a hard adventure trip for their next vacation. In North America, the trend was opposite, and the percent of people expressing the intention to take a hard adventure vacation dipped slightly.

Soft Adventure 

The number of soft adventure departures represents a substantial percentage of trips worldwide. Interestingly, compared to North Americans and Europeans, Latin Americans are taking the most adventure trips at 35% of total outbound travelers. On average, 25% of international trips taken from all three regions are soft adventure trips. Soft adventurers are an important market for destinations, gear companies and tour operators. They are more likely to try different activities and destinations than hard adventurers. They are also more likely to respond to targeted marketing. In all three regions — Latin America, North America and Europe — soft adventure increased steadily over the traveler’s past three trips and continued to do so with future travel intentions. Around 43% of Europeans indicated that for their next vacation they would take a soft adventure trips.

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References:

• Esri. (2020) Adventure Tourism. [online] Available at: <https://www.arcgis.com/apps/Cascade/index.html?appid=68afe467d4ef4d6b880bff946e65792e> (Accessed 16 December 2020).

• Różycki, P. and Dryglas, D. (2014) 'Trekking as a phenomenon of tourism in the modern world', Acta Geoturistica, 5, pp. 24-40

• Travel Destinations. (2019) The History of Adventure Tourism. [online] Available at: <https://travelatdestinations.com/the-history-of-adventure-tourism/> (Accessed 16 December 2020).

• Positive Negative Impact. (2018) Positive and negative impact of adventure tourism. [online] Available at: <https://positivenegativeimpact.com/adventure-tourism> (Accessed 16 December 2020).

• IvyPanda. (2019) Adventure tourism and development: Conservation or exploitation. [online] Available at: <https://ivypanda.com/essays/adventure-tourism-and-development-conservation-or-exploitation/> (Accessed: 17 December 2020).

• Schneider, P. (2010). 'Exploring the Motivation and Personality Traits of Adventure Travelers: A Hierarchical Model Approach.', (Doctoral dissertation) Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI.