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Adventure Travel may be defined as a leisure activity that takes place in an unusual, exotic, remote, or wilderness destination and tends to be associated with high levels of involvement and activity by the participants, most of it outdoors. Adventure travellers are explorers of both an outer world, especially the unspoiled, exotic parts of our planet and an inner world of personal challenge, self perception and self mastery.
The UCC Adventure Guide program focuses on such activities as:
backpacking canoeing cross country skiing heli hiking heli-skiing hiking ice climbing |
mountain biking mountaineering natural history nature observation river rafting rock climbing |
sailing scuba diving sea kayaking ski touring snowboarding whitewater kayaking |
Adventure travel is currently the fastest growing segment of the tourism industry in British Columbia. The rapid growth rate has created problems within the industry that must be addressed through a formalized training program.
Historically, individuals drawn to work within the various adventure travel activities have done so because of a primary interest in an outdoor, travel-oriented lifestyle. Increasingly, these individuals are confronting the need for good marketing and business practices to stay employed and competitive within the field.
Most of the past and present adventure travel businesses have been started by these "lifestyle" operators, and we are just now seeing tourism development investors beginning to actively seek out viable operations within adventure travel tourism. This trend will in turn create new issues to address in the integration of operator and investor.