According to Adventure Tourism studies conducted internationally, Adventure tourism falls within 2 sub categories, Soft Adventure and Hard Adventure. Soft Adventure Tourism is a form of travel experience that steps outside the box of a regular travel itinerary. For people engaging in soft adventure tourism, it is a rewarding experience for the mind and the spirit and does not require an excessive amount of exertion and is regarded as being quite safe. Examples of such type of soft adventure tourism would be biking, camping, walking etc.
Some international companies working in soft adventure tourism would be:
- Country Walkers (US)- http://www.countrywalkers.com/ "At Country Walkers, we want you to experience the best the world has to offer, whether that means midnight kayak rides through Icelandic lagoons or games of khuru with Bhutanese villagers" (Taken from Website)
- PureTrails New Zealand (NZ)- http://www.puretrailsnewzealand.co.nz/ "Our Tours are well planned, thoughtfully paced, and full of fun and adventure as well as excellent" (Taken from website)
- Adventure South NZ (NZ)- http://www.adventuresouth.co.nz/ "Our walks offer pure off-the-beaten-track opportunities as well as some of the best sections of some of the more famous walking trails" (Taken from Website)
Hard Adventure Tourism is a travel experience that has a more physical aspect to it and comes with a higher element of risk added to it. Hard Adventure Tourism is seen as a very physically, emotionally and spiritually rewarding
experience as it pushes people outside their comfort zones, people overcome fears and people push themselves. People who perform acts in favor of hard adventure tourism tend to keep doing it due to the rush and adrenaline of it all. Types of Hard Adventure Tourism includes: Bungee Jumping, Mountaineering, Cliff Diving etc.
Companies that work in Hard Adventure Tourism:
- River Boarding (NZ)- http://www.riverboarding.co.nz/index.html
- Mountain Madness- http://www.mountainmadness.com/ "We've taken the time to pioneer the most interesting and scenic routes, scout out the best campsites, and discover incredible things off the beaten track." (Taken from website)
- Gravity Bolivia (Bolivia)- http://www.gravitybolivia.com/index.php?mod=homeb "Some of the best technical downhill mountain bike trails in the world are located just outside of La Paz Bolivia, and Gravity can take you there" (Taken fron website)
- Kiliwarrior Expeditions (Tanzania)- http://kiliwarriorexpeditions.com/ "With superior quality, safety, service and great attention to detail, our team of experts is recognized as the premier trekking outfitters helping people, like you, reach the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro" (Taken from website)
Internationally, considering the increase of demand for adventure tourism, countries are adapting their tourism products and segments and put themselves in the mix to become good adventure destinations. The #AdventureCapital is an online, social media hashtag campaign being used in places of high adventure content i.e New Zealand and is now becoming a worldwide trend. New Zealand would be considered one of and if not, the most popular Adventure Capital and has worldwide recognition for this.
In recent years, Ireland itself is pushing itself to use its natural resources and
find opportunity in what we have to become an adventure capital. Watersports in Ireland is particularly famous with surfing, SUPing and hiking being particularly popular adventure activities. The Wild Atlantic Way initiative is an indicator of Ireland's dedication to promoting many forms of tourism along the western Irish coast, one that dominates however is Adventure Tourism with the Atlantic coast in Ireland being a hotspot for international surfing. Other famed activities and events along the western Irish coast would be the Redbull Cliff Diving in the Aran Islands, Mountaineering in Connemara etc.
Adventure Tourism provides a knock-on effect for business and for some, creates a doorway for them to conduct business in the market. With surfing being a popular sport along the Atlantic coast of Ireland, surf schools have opened in popular surfing destinations like Strandhill (Strandhill Surf School- http://www.strandhillsurfschool.com/ ) or the businesses I mentioned earlier.
New businesses are emerging through fashion and are using their brand as a form of promotion for adventure tourism and use their social media as a way for their customers to highlight their experience through their brand. i.e AdventuristCo. An adventure lifestyle brand that "share a passion for the
outdoors, sports, travel, photography & more" they provide adventure t-shirts . @adventuristco (Instagram)
Adventure Centers across are popping up internationally as a way for adventure to be more than one activity. Adventure Centers offer activities like surfing, rock climbing, zip lining etc.
An example of a popular Adventure Center would be Donegal Adventure Centre (http://donegaladventurecentre.net/) which offers groups an array of adventure and teambuilding activities which, I myself have done and found very fun!
Adventure Tourism is an incredibly popular niche segment in tourism and should be focused on by tourism authorities worldwide as a plausible and very important form of tourism. With a variety of what can be considered tourism, its a very dynamic segment in the tourism industy. Not only has Adventure Tourism as a tourism product grown significantly and continues to grow but Adventure tourism has become so significant as part of education in Tourism. Courses that teach a module in or have majors in Adventure tourism teach the ins and outs of adventure tourism, which is important for sustainability of the Adventure Tourism market.
Some Institutes that offer such courses/modules in Adventure Tourism:
Some Institutes that offer such courses/modules in Adventure Tourism:
- Institute of Technology, Sligo (https://itsligo.ie/courses/bb-in-tourism-with-event-management/)
- Queenstown Resort College, New Zealand (http://www.queenstownresortcollege.com/diplomas/adventure-tourism/course-outline/)
- University of the Highlands and Islands, Scotland (https://www.uhi.ac.uk/en/courses/ba-hons-adventure-tourism-management)
- West Coast Adventure College, Canada (http://www.westcoastadventurecollege.com/)
*Pic Credit: aqualandia.it*
**The people at AdventuristCo are giving my readers a 15% off promo code. Check out this link: https://teespring.com/adventuristco?pr=TPST
**The people at AdventuristCo are giving my readers a 15% off promo code. Check out this link: https://teespring.com/adventuristco?pr=TPST
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