Adventure tourism: understanding the millennial traveler

The aim of this paper is to review the current trends in tourism industry and travel behavior and preferences of Millennials or Generation Y in relation to traveling, and more specifically, adventure travel segment. Furthermore, the obtained data is compared to a recent research on adventure travel tour operators’ perception of Millennials and their travel habits and preferences, in order to determine whether or not these companies understand their customer. The results indicate that the adventure travel tour operators generally understand Millennials, however, they need to stay up to date with the latest technological and social media trends

Leptospirosis in “Eco-Challenge” Athletes, Malaysian Borneo, 2000

Adventure travel is becoming more popular, increasing the likelihood of contact with unusual pathogens. We investigated an outbreak of leptospirosis in “Eco-Challenge” multisport race athletes to determine illness etiology and implement public health measures. Of 304 athletes, we contacted 189 (62%) from the United States and 26 other countries. Eighty (42%) athletes met our case definition. Twenty-nine (36%) case-patients were hospitalized; none died. Logistic regression showed swimming in the Segama River (relative risk [RR]=2.0; 95% confidence interval [CI]=1.3 to 3.1) to be an independent risk factor. Twenty-six (68%) of 38 case-patients tested positive for leptospiral antibodies. Taking doxycycline before or during the race was protective (RR=0.4, 95% CI=0.2 to 1.2) for the 20 athletes who reported using it. Increased adventure travel may lead to more frequent exposure to leptospires, and preexposure chemoprophylaxis for leptospirosis (200 mg oral doxycycline/week) may decrease illness risk. Efforts are needed to inform adventure travel participants of unique infections such as leptospirosis

The Use of Adventure Travel in the Meeting Planning Industry

This study investigates the types of adventure travel activities, ecotourism, soft-adventure, or hard-adventure activities, that meeting planners have used, and if the type of activity used varies by meeting planner type. Surveys were completed by one hundred and eighteen purposefully selected meeting planners. The sample included corporate, association, independent, incentive and other meeting planners from the United States and Canada. Overall, independent planners utilized the most activities across all three adventure travel categories, followed by incentive travel planners. Corporate, association, and other meeting planners did not seem interested in using adventurous activities at meetings

Adventure in the Age of COVID-19: Embracing Microadventures and Locavism in a Post-Pandemic World

Unprecedented mobility restrictions due to COVID-19 have frozen the adventure travel and tourism industry. These restrictions have forced many to embrace ‘hyperlocal’ approaches to adventure and provided an opportunity to reimagine our adventure travel philosophies and practices. Despite claims that traditional adventure travel could address some of the “world’s most pressing challenges”, it has largely failed to realize its potential to provide a range of social, economic, and environmental benefits. Conversely, microadventure, which espouses adventures in nearby nature that are low-carbon and human-scaled, is an enticing alternative for both current and post-pandemic conditions. This essay first critiques pre-pandemic adventure travel and describes the hazards of this approach in age of COVID-19. It then explores creative ‘lockdown’ microadventures; envisions what post-pandemic adventure may look like; and explains why we not only need to embrace microadventures in a post-pandemic world, but also why we may prefer them to traditional adventure travel. Published in the Leisure Science Special Issue: Leisure in the Time of COVID-19, a Rapid Response

An Illustration of the Quest Genre as Spiritual Metaphor in Adventure Travel Narratives

Adventure travel narratives are often written within a quest genre. The quest as genre is a romantic narrative that follows a pattern of sequential steps: the call to journey, preparation, the journey, and returning home. This paper proposes that the quests in which adventure travellers embark upon are spiritual in nature. Therefore, the quest genre is a metaphorical vehicle for narrating a spiritual journey. The term “spiritual,” in this context, refers to connecting to something outside of oneself. The purpose of this paper is to describe adventure travel as spiritual questing and to illustrate this idea with three popular adventure travel narratives. It is important to understand the common themes and constructions within adventure travel narratives because of their ability to frame travel expectations and influence various factors in the travel and tourism industry (trip choice, travel mode, destination choice, and intention to travel)

Human factors: Predictors of avoidable wilderness accidents?

A common misconception is that wilderness adventure travel is risky owing to the nature of the objective dangers that are encountered, such as avalanches, rock falls, flash floods, failure of technical equipment and so forth. However, when one critically examines the proximal causes of wilderness accidents, even those caused by such ‘objective dangers’, it is apparent that many are due to ‘human factors’ or nontechnical skills. These are broadly defined as the continuous process of identifying and avoiding the activities, interactions and decisions that may jeopardise safe and effective response to adverse events. Objective dangers and adverse events are unavoidable, but the response to them is governed by how team dynamics, leadership and followership modes, situational awareness and experience may mitigate these risks or manage their consequences effectively. On the other hand, ignoring human factors during wilderness travel is predictive of wilderness accidents. This article outlines how an awareness of human factors may be used to reduce the risks of adventure travel significantly

Interview with \u3cem\u3eBringing Progress to Paradise\u3c/em\u3e Author Jeff Rasley

Interview with Travelanthropist about the author’s experience in the Himalayas and Basa Village

Animating and sustaining niche social networks

Within the communicative space online Social Network Sites (SNS) afford, Niche Social Networks Sites (NSNS) have emerged around particular geographic, demographic or topic-based communities to provide what broader SNS do not: specified and targeted content for an engaged and interested community. Drawing on a research project developed at the Queensland University of Technology in conjunction with the Australian Smart Services Cooperative Research Centre that produced an NSNS based around Adventure Travel, this paper outlines the main drivers for community creation and sustainability within NSNS. The paper asks what factors motivate users to join and stay with these sites and what, if any, common patterns can be noted in their formation. It also outlines the main barriers to online participation and content creation in NSNS, and the similarities and differences in SNS and NSNS business models. Having built a community of 100 registered members, the staywild.com.au project was a living laboratory, enabling us to document the steps taken in producing a NSNS and cultivating and retaining active contributors. The paper incorporates observational analysis of user-generated content (UGC) and user profile submissions, statistical analysis of site usage, and findings from a survey of our membership pool in noting areas of success and of failure. In drawing on our project in this way we provide a template for future iterations of NSNS initiation and development across various other social settings: not only niche communities, but also the media and advertising with which they engage and interact. Positioned within the context of online user participation and UGC research, our paper concludes with a discussion of the ways in which the tools afforded by NSNS extend earlier understandings of online ‘communities of interest’. It also outlines the relevance of our research to larger questions about the diversity of the social media ecology