Adventure Central

Jumpin over the pond to Norway

We're headed to the Adventure Travel World Summit in Norway this month for a first hand scoop on what's new in the industry and where it's headed. In addition to exhibiting, we'll be presenting on Trends & Best Practices in Leisure Product Distribution.

Aleece Koss, VP of Marketing at Adventure Central, will join a cadre of innovators and experts scheduled to address adventure travel business leaders representing 26 countries and 200 adventure travel companies, tourism boards, and marketing organizations from around the world at the 2008 Adventure Travel World Summit-Europe in Norway, October 21-25.

Hosted by the Seattle-based Adventure Travel Trade Association (ATTA), Aleece will serve as a featured speaker at the trade organization’s fifth Adventure Travel World Summit (ATWS).  While marketing, sustainable tourism, trends and research headline the executive conference, strategic insights, best business practices, and practical tools sessions complete the Summit, which starts above the Arctic Circle aboard a Hurtigruten vessel.

Summit organizers invited Aleece to speak during the ATTA World Trade Summit—Europe for her specific expertise in online travel distribution.

"Ms. Koss was asked to join this Summit’s noteworthy assembly of adventure travel experts for her industry leadership and her ability to clearly convey insights and recommendations about cutting-edge issues affecting the adventure travel industry," said ATTA Vice President Chris Doyle.  "Aleece and other Summit presenters will collaboratively deliver a potent mix of visionary and practical approaches that will shape a sustainable future for adventure travel."

Adventure Travel according to Gen Y

Research in our segment is tough to find. That's why we were so happy to find this excerpt from Xola Consulting.

The report’s findings about GenY adventure travelers indicate that:

• 82% choose destination before deciding budget, and 74% research trips on the Internet
• They tend to stay at destinations longer and travel deeper than other travel segments, resulting in expenditures that can have great impact in destinations
• They travel with a purpose - to explore and engage with other cultures
• 50% include cultural experiences in their definition of “adventure;” they travel to develop deeper understanding of their personal or cultural heritage
• 82% have college degrees or higher
• They are well-read and have a holistic view of the world, making them comfortable in seeking out destinations and adventure travel opportunities outside of the traditional mainstream

The Executive Summary from “WhatUp World? Marketing Adventure Travel for Gen Y” is available for free download at www.xolaconsulting.com/research-php. Please contact Christina Heyniger at christina@xolaconsulting.com or +1 202-297-2206 for a full copy of the report. Other groundbreaking reports related to the adventure space are available at www.xolaconsulting.com.

More info available on the Adventure Travel Trade Association site.

South America, Europe To Host ATTA 2008 Adventure Travel World Summits

Our friends at the Adventure Travel Trade Association have some great plans this year. Summits this year in South America and Europe.

Adventure Travel Gains in USTOA Poll

Today Americans are no longer content to simply sightsee; they want to 'site do'.

Open Travel for Adventurers

What is an adventure? That is easy. What describes and defines an adventure? That is much harder. Is it name/description/experience level? Is it destination/category/comfort level? How do you capture the essences of the experience in words and multimedia? Perhaps real justice can't be done to the experience, but an attempt is important for sales and marketing. What does a traveler need to know about an adventure to be excited/inspired/comfortable enough to book?

Adventure Central is working with the Open Travel Alliance, and other members of the Adventure/Experiential travel industry, to create standards for communicating "tours" (adventures and experiences) between partners. These standards define the facets of information about the tour, availability and even booking information.

What does this mean for the adventure industry? A way for the tour operator to capture the salient details of an adventure, and a way to share that data with others; distribution partners, online travel agencies (OTAs), even provide service to industry partners (resellers.) One import/export format for all these uses and more is as yet undiscovered. Capturing this data in an Internet-ready format will significantly increase access to these experiences, giving it a much wider audience.

A picture speaks a thousand words, and excitement sells adventure, so the standards must support images, video and other media types going far beyond text. References (web hyperlinks) can be made to external sources of information, e.g. traveler reviews on ATTA's adventure travel site. Metadata (descriptive data about the trip data) such as destination, category, experience required, comfort level, and more are supported.

Clearly there is a challenge to any standardization effort when there are so many great flavours of adventure; from single-day local adventures to multi-day remote destinations, from soft/experiential to hard/extreme, from packaged to custom. There needs to be flexibility within the standard to cover as much as possible, whilst preserving simplicity. First phase is to describe the adventure, upon demand convey scheduling/availability information, and perform/record a booking.

Such a standard is an ongoing venture, and will mature best with industry input; from tour operators, from distribution partners, even from travelers. Feel free to join the Open Travel Alliance and become a member of this working group, or convey your thoughts to us at Adventure Central using OpenTravel@AdventureCentral.com.

Adventure Central is pleased to participate in this endeavour, and feels it is one more step along the path of connecting the world to great adventures.

- Adam Jack, Adventure Central.

Adventure Travel World Summit 2007 Outlook

“The most important trip you may take in life is meeting people halfway” - Henry Boye

For the past three years Adventure Travel World Summit (ATWS) has been a conference held for adventure travel companies all over the world to meet halfway in one specific destination.  This year was the first year that it was held in Whistler, Canada.  I went to the prior year’s Summit in Seattle so I already had a perception of what to expect, but all fun adventures pack in a few surprises, and the trip to the Summit in Whistler was no exception.

Being a student studying tourism and now having an opportunity to be part of it through this conference was a very fulfilling experience.  I enjoyed every aspect of the ATWS.  It was amazing meeting people from all over the world and hearing about where they’ve been and what they’ve done to help the industry grow.

There were sessions throughout the day that were extraordinary.  Some sessions involved preparing for the future market, market trends, niche markets, carbon offsets and operating in sensitive environmental destinations.  A personal one that I will forever remember was from the president of Protect Yourself Protect the Earth (PEPY) by Daniella Papi. Her speech about how her company helps children in Cambodia was very moving.  Watching a video about her company showing children how to brush their teeth was something many of us take for granted.  Many of us don’t realize how important our impact on people is and her company does just that with helping and teaching children that cannot afford schooling.  It hadn’t occurred to me that some adventure travel lovers might seek this type of altruistic opportunity to share a part of themselves as an amazing adventure.  It certainly came across as an amazing adventure that not only provides some adventure thrill, but also provides a great sense of worth.

“Life is either a great adventure or nothing at all” - Helen Keller

This annual conference is a great adventure for anyone interested in going into adventure travel. Whether it’s starting your own company or trying to expand an established one it will be a beneficial experience.

Kari Quinn

Student at Metropolitan State College of Denver

Intern with Adventure Central

And the award goes to...Richard Bangs

We don't normally tout awards, but it has been such an honor to be working with Richard Bangs - truly a pioneer in this space - that for this one we just had to make an exception!

Richard - Adventure Central Board member, world adventurer, international river explorer, Web pioneer, and award winning author has been awarded with the Mark Dubois Award by Friends of the River.

They'll be celebrating October 12th in San Francisco so be sure to join the fun!

“National Geographic Adventurer” Publisher Interviewed

In addition to profiling Adventure Central in its most recent issue, Adventure Travel News conducted a Q&A with Francis X. Farrell, publisher of National Geographic Adventurer. Within the piece, Farrell was asked a variety of questions about the adventure travel industry. Highlights tour operators might find interesting include:

“ATN™:
From your perspective, what is one essential challenge for our industry?

Farrell:
Understanding how we will serve consumers. They want something unique. There are more than 21 million hits monthly on adventure travel sources on the Internet. How does an individual operator compete in a world where there’s so much? How do you differentiate and figure out how to promote the services of individual outfitters and guides?

Another challenge is that we have to invite everyone to participate. We need to get all types of people from all walks of life to participate in adventures. If we’re going to protect and grow our community, we need to get as many people involved as possible and we shouldn’t simply start with the traditional demographic profile of the adventure traveler.”

For the complete story, please visit: www.adventuretravel.biz/adventure_in_media_nga_qa_w06.asp.

Women Driving Adventure and Experiential Travel

In a recent article, the Montreal Gazette says that middle-aged women are spearheading the growing adventure and experiential travel industries. The Gazette says that “The average adventure traveler these days is not a 20-something male, but a 40-ish female. In fact, 75 percent of those who take cultural, adventure or nature trips are women.” The article goes on to quote a Travel Industry Association study that says that women make more than 75 percent of all travel decisions. Of additional interest: Many female travelers who seek adventure and experiential travel experiences tend to book “women-only trips” offered by an increasing number of tour operators.

Top Adventure Travel Destinations Revealed

About.com, which is visited by more than 20 million people each month, has named its Top 5 adventure travel destinations (according to its writers and visitors) for 2005. The top destinations were:

• Roatan, Honduras – Celebrated for its treasure hunting and white sand beaches
• Colorado’s Arkansas River – Hailed as the best whitewater in the U.S.
• Guatemala – Made famous by “Survivor”, know for its rainforests and ruins
• Las Olas, Mexico – A gem renowned for surfing and sun
• Scotland – Abundant adventures include mountain biking and hot air ballooning, as well as intense cultural experiences

For more information, please visit www.adventuretravel.about.com.