The Nature of Adventure Tourism
Adventure tourism can often be described as an exploration of travel outside a person's comfort zone, this can include physical and daring activities often in a variety of different cultures and environments (Adventure Tourism - Definitions, History, Types, Characteristics & Features, or Importance, 2021).
The different Natures of adventure tourism include: Niche market provision, aims and purposes.
Niche tourism relates to a type of product, service or interest that are used by a small amount of people. This would be the opposite to mass tourism, such as all inclusive holidays etc. Niche tourism has become increasingly popular over the past few years, which is down to the way the consumer market has changed. More people like the idea of travelling somewhere new and exciting, rather than the typical, common holiday package. Getting a mixture of education and new culture has become more important, which is more accessible with niche market provision. There has been found to be a number of advantages of niche tourism which can include:
- Being better for the environment
- Smaller amount of tourists
- Less tourists means that they are likely to be more respectful to cultures
- Niche tourists often spend more money on adventures and activities
- They are genuinely interested in educating themselves and meeting the local people
However niche tourism isn't all positive and the negatives can include:
- Too many visitors being attracted, making it no longer a niche market
- Niche businesses can take business away from other markets
- less visitors can mean that economic benefits are reduced
- Niche tourism is usually a trend of what is popular at the time, which can mean it is not going to be financially stable all year round
- (Niche tourism: What, why and where - Tourism Teacher, 2021).
Examples of niche tourism include: Adventure tourism- Involves climbing mountain peaks. Heritage tourism- The great wall of china. Nature tourism- Safari or Niagara falls. etc. (Burdett, 2017).
The purpose and aims of adventure tourism can include active/creative, social, educational, discovery, hobbies, challenge/ excitement and relaxation or health and therapy.
It has been proved that adventure tourism can have a positive impact on a person's health and wellbeing. In a study of a research sample involving skilled people from ages 21-35 which involved a number of different adventure tourism activities such as hiking, cycling and walking, it was found that 90% of the participants concluded that they got a better nights sleep after taking part in these activities, made them feel better about their own bodies, found an improvement in their bone and joint strength, a healthier immune system that meant they had speedier recovery times post being ill. 91% of these participants also found that they were able to cope with challenges better and be more aware of their own emotions (J. Lötter and Welthagen, 2020).
Adventure tourism has seen an increase in participation levels from young dults. This has been found to be because these groups of people are usually healthier, more educated, of a higher income and have a greater desire for activities that fill them with adrenaline. A study was conducted using 14 people that were aged 50 and above, who were interviewed for qualitative research. These results showed that the main reason for taking part in adventure tourism was for an adventure and more excitement in their everyday lives. The discovery of new areas and nature was also a string motive for these people to take part in adventure tourism (Patterson and Pan, 2011).
Studies have shown that one of the main reasons as to why people take part in adventure tourism activities was for the thrill and fear that the activities bring, but they do not want to be actually put in any danger, so safety is important. These would usually be younger people that have this thrill- seeking behavioural trait, that want to experience new adventures (Buckley, 2006).