History:
– Humans traveled for food and survival since ancient times
– Adventurous travel includes sea explorations and new country visits
– Key institutions like National Geographic Society and Explorers Club support adventure travel
– Modern adventure travel began after World War II
– Niche travel sector with evolving activities
Types:
Accessible tourism:
– Specific tourism for disabled individuals
– A $13 billion industry in North America
– Diverse programs and job opportunities for disabled travelers
Extreme travel:
– Involves travel to dangerous locations or participation in extreme activities
– Can overlap with extreme sports
Jungle tourism:
– Defined by active physical travel in jungle regions
– Major component of green tourism in tropical destinations
Overland travel:
– Originated with Marco Polo’s overland expedition in the 13th century
– Extended adventure holiday in a group with a tour leader
– Popular means of travel across continents since the 1960s
Scuba diving:
– Sport where participants explore underwater places
– Most popular in locations with tropical coral reefs
– Popular destinations include Belizes Great Blue Hole and Tahiti
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Adventure travel is a type of tourism, involving exploration or travel with a certain degree of risk (real or perceived), and which may require special skills and physical exertion. In the United States, adventure tourism has grown in recent decades as tourists seek out-of-the-ordinary or "roads less traveled" vacations, but lack of a clear operational definition has hampered measurement of market size and growth. According to the U.S.-based Adventure Travel Trade Association, adventure travel may be any tourist activity that includes physical activity, a cultural exchange, and connection with outdoor activities and nature.
Adventure tourists may have the motivation to achieve mental states characterized as rush or flow, resulting from stepping outside their comfort zone. This may be from experiencing culture shock or by performing acts requiring significant effort and involve some degree of risk, real or perceived, or physical danger. This may include activities such as mountaineering, trekking, bungee jumping, mountain biking, cycling, canoeing, scuba diving, rafting, kayaking, zip-lining, paragliding, hiking, exploring, Geocaching, canyoneering, sandboarding, caving and rock climbing. Some obscure forms of adventure travel include disaster and ghetto tourism. Other rising forms of adventure travel include social and jungle tourism.
Access to inexpensive consumer technology, with respect to Global Positioning Systems, flashpacking, social networking and photography, have increased the worldwide interest in adventure travel. The interest in independent adventure travel has also increased as more specialist travel websites emerge offering previously niche locations and sports.
Adventure sports tourism has traditionally been dominated by men. Although women's participation has grown, the gender gap is still pronounced in terms of quantitative engagement in these forms of sport tourism. Yet, in competitive adventure sport tourism, the success rate of females is currently higher than that of males