Adventure Tourism

Recently Adventure tourism has really taken off with people being being led just about everywhere. From Kilimanjaro to the North Pole. There is a fine line between adventure tourism and adventure on one side you have people who couldn't survive a week in Dartmoor being led up significant peaks and on the other hand you have experienced mountaineers using a guiding company in order to save time on the logistics e.g. gaining a permit.

A lot of people particularly experienced outdoors people are very anti-Adventure Tourism. However I believe that it's great. It allows people to have experiences that they wouldn't be able to have otherwise. It challenges and pushes these people allowing them to feel a great sense of achievement. On the flip side it does disguise the achievement of individuals who have achieved hard challenges themselves e.g. skiing solo to the South Pole vs a group of tourist who have flown most of the way and skied a shorter distance . Whilst this does happen I believe that the increasing interest in outdoor challenges increases peoples knowledge and interest. So whilst a lot of people couldn't tell the difference a growing number can.

So is adventure Tourism really adventure? Well mostly it's not. The quality of tour operators and guides is generally high so whilst it might feel like an adventure it isn't as your essentially being babysat by an expereinced individual who is more than comfortbale with the situation. As with all things there are times when it can be real adventure but this usually comes with a lot of risk and little guarantee for example climbing a new peak with a guiding company. Why would you use a company for a real adventure? This is often to avoid the bureaucracy that is often involved or complicated logistics or perhaps to try something that is slighly harder than you could manage otherwise.

In summary adventure tourism is seldom real adventure but a guise for an interesting holiday that tends to be far more insightful and rewarding than any other experience you could have. However at times there is a thin line between adventure tourism and adventure. You'll know when it's adventure because you'll be slightly apprehensive and rightly so.