Adventure Tourism A Growing Segment of the Leisure Travel Industry – Facts & Trends

by Bary Roberts S.
Managing – Partner
DTL4 - Desarrollos Turísticos Los Cuatro

Introduction:

Everyone recognizes that within the biggest industry in the world the segment of Adventure tourism, or Ecoadventure tourism as some prefer to call it, has become an important and integral part. However, only some people, and fewer in number, are aware of the speed at which it is developing, and even less people have really put this segment of tourism into its proper dimension. The purpose of this expose is to analyze some of the aspects related to adventure tourism and demonstrate that it is a segment worthy of much more attention and development than what it presently receives and that by doing so every tourism destination in the world can be strengthened, as well as moved closer to implementing sustainable tourism.

What is Adventure Tourism?

Adventure tourism is described in many different forms, but the common factors of all definitions involve a physical activity, a cultural exchange or interaction and engagement with nature and it normally includes exploration or travel to remote or exotic areas, where the traveler should "expect the unexpected".

One particular aspect that is often overlooked by players in the industry is that Adventure tourism has become, for an ever increasing number of tourists, an integral part of a conventional or of an ecotourism vacation experience and not just what it is for some travelers, an exclusive or self contained vacation type of experience. Precisely, not understanding the full dimensions of adventure tourism and that it is not just a physical activity per se, has kept many participants of the tourism industry from seeing the full potential and importance of this segment of the industry and therefore not taking advantage of its full potential.

It is therefore very important to understand that adventure tourism can and should be an important compliment to most other types of tourism, i.e. ecotourism and more conventional tourism, in order to grow these forms of tourism, as well as to put adventure tourism into its proper dimension of size and growth potential. Today, more and more people are looking for more than a vacation - they want an experience, one which adventure tourism is the ideal tool to provide.

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