Adventure and ecotourism safety in Queensland: Operator experiences and practice

This study identifies the client injury experience and safety management practices of Queensland adventure and ecotourism operators, and to compare these findings with those from recent New Zealand surveys. The effectiveness of an on-line survey for collecting safety information from operators is evaluated in relation to the future development of an industry safety monitoring system. Some 60 adventure and ecotourism operators were surveyed, while in-depth interviews were conducted with four further Queensland operators. Survey findings indicated a relatively low level of reported incidents, with slips, trips and falls the most common incident type. Risk factors identified by operators related most frequently to adverse and changeable weather conditions and client skills and behavior, and a notable proportion of operators reported that they did not apply important safety management practices. A model of injury control is presented to assist operators in their risk management practice.     

The hidden risk in user-generated content: An investigation of ski tourers' revealed risk-taking behavior on an online outdoor sports platform

This paper investigates risk-taking behavior in the context of an online outdoor sports platform. Analyzing a unique behavioral dataset of 6242 ski tours completed over a time period of eight winter seasons, this paper shows that the accuracy of user-generated content on ski tours is limited and that more than one third of ski tours accessible on the respective online platform was relatively dangerous on the particular days according to a common avalanche risk assessment method. The quantitative analysis furthermore reveals that at avalanche danger level “considerable” more than sixty percent of ski tours were relatively dangerous. Overall, this paper provides novel insights into risks that come with user-generated content in the adventure tourism and adventure recreation domain and derives important implications for online platform users, online platform providers, public institutions, and tourism destinations.     

Dimensions of adventure tourism

Academic interest in adventure tourism has increased in recent years given the exponential growth of this sector. Physical outdoor activity-based conceptualisations of adventure tourism - from soft adventure (hiking, snorkelling, etc.) to hard adventure (rock climbing, wilderness trekking, etc.) – are commonly employed, but are criticised as overly simplistic and failing to capture the essence of adventure tourism. A systematic review of the adventure tourism literature aimed to address these concerns and resulted in a new conceptualisation of adventure tourism and its dimensions that offers a more comprehensive and sophisticated understanding of this tourism activity. Of the 22 dimensions of adventure tourism identified, risk and danger, the natural environment, thrill and excitement, challenge, and physical activity are at its core. Consumer-based, product-based and hybrid pillars of adventure tourism are also evident. Theoretical anchors to differentiate adventure tourism from other forms of tourism are presented.     

Fear and adventure tourism in Brazil

The search for new non-routine emotions and sensations has become a decisive factor in taking part in adventure tourism. As Barros and Dines (2000) have pointed out, Brazil's natural resources are abundant and have been widely used to promote the nation's tourism. Empirical literature describes fear as one of the main emotions in adventure activities, and for this reason a questionnaire was designed to examine the presence of fear before and after three adventure activities (parachuting, white-water rafting, and rock-climbing). This study not only aimed to consolidate fear as a fundamental emotion in performing such activities but also to stimulate interest for further studies in this area.     

3-2-1 bungy: A typology of performance styles

Understanding how people express themselves in everyday acts has been well examined since Goffman’s (1959) seminal piece. His work laid the foundation for understanding performance and is used as the cornerstone for an established body of research concerning social performance in tourism (Coleman & Crang, 2002; Doorne & Ateljevic, 2005; Edensor, 2000; Haldrup & Larsen, 2009; Ness, 2007; Picarda & Zuevb, 2014). The context of bungy-jumping affords a rich resource to unpack the construction of performance styles due to the inherent contradiction of being simultaneously at risk and safe. Thus we develop a typology of performance styles where each proposed style becomes a function of the performer’s interaction with the audience and the performer’s belief in the adventure paradox.     

Attitude to Risk in Technology-Based Strategic Alliances for Tourism

This article examines how attitude to risk in the tourism industry impacts on the role of strategic alliances in developing technology-based knowledge. A survey of Australian travel sector businesses indicates that strategic alliances in tourism contribute only marginally to technology-based knowledge. The study further found that executives in the travel sector of tourism are risk-averse and this has implications for their perceptions regarding the contribution of alliances to technology-based knowledge. The findings imply that Australian industry policy towards tourism needs to encourage strategic alliances that have the potential to stimulate knowledge-based innovation.     

Adventure tourism products: Price, duration, size, skill, remoteness

To test whether commercial tourism products in different adventure activity sectors have different functional characteristics, I took part in tours offered by 75 operators worldwide and analysed price per person per day, duration, prior skill requirements, remoteness, group size and client-to-guide ratios. There is an enormous range of variation. Some activities overlap but some are clearly distinguishable, on commercial as well as operational criteria. Products can be arranged on a scale from low volume, high difficulty, high price to high volume, low difficulty and low price. There are recognisable signatures for some subsectors, but not all.     

Women’s mountaineering tourism: an empirical investigation of its theoretical constraint dimensions

The purpose of this study is to investigate the perceived constraints on participating in mountaineering tourism faced by women, and to empirically verify the dimensionality of those constraints. Survey responses from 314 female mountaineers were collected and four constraint dimensions were identified using confirmatory factor analysis. Three of these dimensions: ‘intra-personal’, ‘inter-personal’ and ‘structural’ constraints support earlier findings in the extant literature, both in general and in the adventure literature more specifically. The identification of a fourth dimension relating to ‘family’ constraints represents a theoretical contribution to the literature and an additional barrier to women’s participation in mountaineering tourism. In previous studies, ‘family’ constraints have typically been subsumed within ‘inter-personal’ or ‘intra-personal’ constraints, but have emerged as a distinctly separate constraint category for women in relation to this particular tourist activity. The findings also have important implications for adventure tourism management practice.     

The relationship between white-water rafting experience formation and customer reaction: a flow theory perspective

White-water rafting is an exciting form of water adventure that not only satisfies the need of tourists to interact with nature, but also represents an invigorating recreational experience, thereby explaining why it has become a popular adventure tourism activity in Taiwan. Although a few studies have analyzed multiple tourist tourism experiences, there is still a lack of research adopting the flow experience perspective to understand tourist motivations when participating in rafting activities. Therefore, this study adopts the concept of flow experience to examine the relationships among experience antecedents, flow experience and result variables. The statistical results show that tourist rafting skill, level of challenge of rafting activity and playfulness significantly and positively influence tourist flow experience that, in turn, promotes a positive mood and satisfaction. Moreover, tourist satisfaction significantly and positively influences tourist loyalty. Finally, the research findings and theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.     

Storytelling approach of the self-reported slow adventure to Tibet: Constructing experience and identity

Most of our travel experiences are stored, recorded, and relived in the form of stories; tourist blogs have emerged as a modern form of travel story. These stories provide information about exciting moments and memorable events, which are usually emotional highpoints that can be useful for tourism marketers. Based on the sociological concept of storytelling, this study investigates which aspects of the slow adventure experience travelers present in their travel blogs through a rubric elaborated on extant literature. The findings reveal three types of slow adventure stories, and each type of story relates to a different identity construction. The article concludes with a discussion of its theoretical contributions in terms of adding to the literature of adventure tourism and storytelling. In revealing the themes and identities relating to specific slow adventure experiences, it provides potential practical implications of travel blogs for slow adventure product designers and marketers.     

Active engagement with nature: outdoor adventure tourism,sustainability and wellbeing

Abstract

This article draws on the conflicting arguments surrounding outdoor adventure tourism activities to determine if such activities might usefully be considered beneficial for humans and nature, and how they might offer avenues for sustainable tourism practice. Research in the field has often examined outdoor adventure activities through a lens that either highlights their negative environmental impacts or has sought to conceptualise motivations and/or experiences. In this article, we argue that through practices that are often seen as destructive, there is the possibility to think differently about human-nature relationships and pro-environmentalism. To explore these issues, we draw on data collected from a series of semi-structured interviews with outdoor adventure tourists. Our analysis highlights how outdoor adventure tourism facilitates reconnections to nature, offering potential wellbeing impacts and pro-environmental attitudes and behaviours. We conclude that outdoor adventure activities as a form of sustainable tourism have potential implications for our understanding of, and engagement with, sustainability, mental health and wellbeing.     

Surf Tourism and Sustainable Development in Indo-Pacific Islands. I. The Industry and the Islands

Commercial surf tourism is recent in origin but is now a significant component of the worldwide adventure tourism sector. There are over 10 million surfers worldwide and a third of these are cash-rich, time-poor and hence potential tour clients. Most travelling surfers visit mainland destinations and are not distinguished from other tourists. Specialist surfing boat charters and lodges are most prevalent in Indo-Pacific islands. In the smaller reef islands, growth in tourism carries risks to drinking water and subsistence fisheries. There risks are easily overcome, but only if appropriate waste and sewage management technologies are installed. In the larger rock islands, nature and adventure tourism may provide an economic alternative to logging and plantation agriculture. Cultural impacts can occur in either type of island. As with most types of adventure tourism, the commercial surf tourism industry in the Indo-Pacific is strongly linked to the clothing, fashion and entertainment industries, and marketed through specialist surfing magazines and surfing media. From a tourism development perspective, the trend is towards integrated ocean sports destinations which attract entire families as well as individual surfers. Currently, however, marketing crossovers with other specialist ocean sports such as diving are far smaller than with other boardsports such as snowboarding.     

Contested surf tourism resources in the Maldives

We analyse contests for control of a newly valuable tourism resource, namely surf breaks in the Maldives. Conflicts are shaped by: the resource, economics, culture, legislation, and politics. There are seven stakeholder groups: island resorts, resort-based surfing tourists, live-aboard charter boats, boat-based surfing tourists, local surf-related enterprises, independent travelling surfers using those enterprises, and local resident surfers. We identify a transition from exogenously to endogenously-controlled political processes and power. These are driven by tourism growth, and accelerated by specific trigger events related to political change, land tenure, and development projects. Tourism destinations have seldom been studied in the context of control over natural resources. The transition model constructed here applies across destinations, adventure activities, tourism subsectors, and other industries.     

New Public Management in tourism: a case study of York

Issues concerning destination governance continue to engender much interest and debate in the development of more sustainable forms of tourism. This study explores the implications of a New Public Management approach to tourist destination governance in the historic City of York. Using secondary data, as well as drawing on interviews with a range of destination stakeholders, this study seeks to understand how market ideology is, via the notion of New Public Management, transforming tourism governance in the city. Rather than leading to greater levels of stakeholder engagement, the study demonstrates how the outsourcing of destination management functions to a private sector organisation has had the opposite effect, including a weakening of accountability and the widening of a democratic deficit. The paper provides a unique insight into how public policy discourses manifest themselves at the local level, with implications for tourist destination governance. A critique of New Public Management is offered which extends our understanding of tourism governance structures and stakeholder engagement, with implications for sustainable tourism development discussed.     

Package mountaineer tourists holidaying in the French Alps: An evaluation of key influences encouraging their participation

This study investigates the key influences that encourage mountaineer tourists, classified as a type of adventure tourist, to participate in package mountaineering holidays. There is limited understanding of why tourists take package adventure holidays, yet the demand for such holidays has grown dramatically in recent years. The author conducted in-depth interviews with mountaineer tourists either during or at the end of their package mountaineering holiday in the Chamonix region of the French Alps. Interview findings provide an insight into package mountaineer tourists. Firstly, mountaineering was an important part of respondents’ lifestyles. Secondly, contrary to previous research on experienced mountaineers, respondents did not consider risk as an important motive and they did not view themselves as risk takers. Thirdly, skills development and experience were key motives encouraging package mountaineering holiday participation. Fourthly, a major concern for respondents was to have a safe mountaineering experience in which the mountaineering organisation and the guide played a key role.     

Chinese model for mass adventure tourism

China has evolved a new domestic model for river-based adventure tourism, a form of passive mass tourism characterised by short trips, in small unguided rafts without paddles, on heavily modified watercourses with exclusive control of access, receiving up to 10,000 clients per site per day. This is very different to international models, which expect much greater individual involvement and responsibility for safety. Client satisfaction is moderate and repeat business low, but the Chinese domestic model nonetheless generates a billion-dollar annual turnover nationwide, with participation to date by around one quarter of China's 18–35 year-olds. This domestic model shapes the expectations of Chinese tourists travelling overseas, with implications for practical safety and satisfaction, and theoretical tests of culture-linked expectation disconfirmation.     

Targeting sustainable outcomes with adventure tourism: A political ecology approach

Sustainability is a dominant paradigm in tourism research yet a lack of research on alternative tourism sectors to deliver sustainable outcomes hinders sustainable tourism research, planning, implementation, policy and management. This research uses a political ecology lens, to dissect how destinations can harness adventure tourism to achieve relevant sustainability objectives. Adventure tourism is not in itself sustainable but by targeting adventure travel that attracts passionate, high-paying tourists to participate in activities specifically suited to local landscapes, communities have the potential to create bespoke tourism products that fit the socio-ecological system and produce clear conservation and sustainable development outcomes.     

Make a customer,not a sale: Tourist satisfaction in Hong Kong

Although tourism literature is replete with visitor satisfaction studies, little attention has been paid to comparing satisfaction between tourism sectors. Tourism is a complex system and the tourist satisfaction and performance of one sector have significant implications on another. This situation makes a comparative study indispensable for holistic tourism planning. Moreover, a destination is an amalgam of tourism products. It would therefore be parochial to examine one tourism product without comparing it to other products in the tourism system. Knowledge and understanding of such comparisons ensure comprehensive planning by tourism decision makers and marketers. In meeting the objectives declared in the introductory section, the study builds on previous research to adopt the Tourism Satisfaction Index Model and the Expectancy-Disconfirmation framework. Questionnaires are the main data collection instrument and data are analyzed through a series of statistical procedures. The findings reveal considerable differences in satisfaction between attractions and hotels. A strong correlation is identified between satisfaction and loyalty, and four antecedents of satisfaction are confirmed. The implications of the study are subsequently discussed.     

A Study into the Use of Management Science and Marketing Research Techniques in the Irish Tourism Industry

Abstract

The authors report the findings of a recent survey into the use of management science and marketing research techniques in the Irish tourism industry. Given the well documented benefits of these techniques for management decision making, the research was undertaken to explore the extent to which managers in the Irish tourism industry are aware of and use these techniques. The usefulness of these techniques has spawned a considerable expansion of the coverage of such topics throughout business studies programmes in the higher education sector internationally. The study examines whether what is being taught is being used in practice and if not why not. Overall, the results indicate that management science and marketing research practice in the Irish tourism industry do not seem to reflect their potential.     

Supply-side investments: An international analysis of the return and risk relationship in the Travel & Leisure sector

This study investigates supply-side investments in the tourism sector, analysing the return and risk relationship of investments in tourism across several countries. The performance of tourism sector companies listed on the stock exchange, for the top one dozen countries according to the World Economic Forum (WEF) tourism rankings, is investigated by region, across these countries and within each country by comparison to other sectors. Several metrics are used to compare the risk-adjusted returns, over a 15-year period ending March 2007 and sub-periods to check the persistence of performance over time. The results present a strikingly different ranking than those of the WEF. The implications for the flow of investment funds are of importance in a global capital market. Money will flow to those investments with the highest expected returns for a given risk level and this has consequential impacts for economic growth and employment in the tourism sector.