Adventure Travel: What It Really Is and How to Break Into This Lucrative Niche
Imagine riding a quad with your pack of best buddies through the Northern Cape in South Africa when a herd of giraffes running up to 37 miles an hour cuts across the path directly in front of you – whew! Or the adrenaline rush you’ll feel from inside the underwater cage in Cape Town when a massive Great White shark menacingly glides over and peers directly into your eyes just inches away with only a few metal bars between you. Or how about walking, scrambling, wiggling, and climbing your way nearly half a mile into Sudwala Cave when you catch a glimpse of the 160-million-year-old Screaming Monster?
这些是真正独特,难忘的旅行体验,它们只是冒险旅行利基所能提供的。但是请放心,对于那些寻求刺激的阈值的人来说,有许多冒险旅行机会非常适合。
冒险旅游市场是巨大的,它是增长最快的旅行段之一。根据Allied Market Research进行的一项研究,它在2020年的价值为1.1227亿美元,到2028年估计达到1,169,0.95亿美元。
The big question is: Is your travel agency currently selling this lucrative niche? Here is a quick primer on the market and its opportunities, from travel advisors who have established themselves as experts in adventure travel.
今天的冒险旅行是什么?
Adventure travel means different things to different people. But what these experiences have in common is that they take travelers off the beaten path, empowering them to try new things, challenge themselves, and reconnect to nature and a more primal part of themselves. It is about a mindset more than a particular type of activity.
漫游旅行公司的共同所有人兼旅行设计师夏洛特·巴里利尔(Charlotte Barillier)说:“冒险旅行是要越过您的舒适区并与世界重新建立联系。”“我认为,现在比以往任何时候都更重要的是要与我们的技术脱节并恢复自然。关于野生动物园的我最喜欢的事情之一是它独特的能力,可以将您直接带到当下。我认为冒险旅行对我们所有人都做到了 - 这是充分存在的快乐和满足。”
Ralph Iantosca,CTA,LS,DS,Expedition和Safari专家,在CondéNast的2020 - 2022年顶级旅行专家中命名,以及Iantosca Travel LLC的所有者,分享了他的观点:“冒险旅行的类别非常广泛。几年前,我被问到一个传统旅行者的问题(您如何形容冒险旅行?如此多的经验,例如在火山国家公园的徒步银背,攀登乞力马扎罗山,在南非和南非的大白潜水,南极洲的皮划艇,在南太平洋潜水,在南太平洋潜水,看着日本的零零零,一个kamikaze崩溃了 - 榜单崩溃了 -继续。如果您是一位从未在冒险旅行领域中亲自经历过任何事情的顾问,也不是“传统”旅行者类型的客户,那么新的可能性是无穷无尽的。”
Who is the adventure traveler?
Again, opinions vary. Iantosca noted that adventure travel has many different demographics. His clients are active, affluent, in their late 40s to early 70s, who can all make the time for this type of travel experience.
巴里利尔说,她“很高兴看到客户通常希望尝试新事物并探索正常的旅游网站之外。我认为蜜月旅行者一直在寻求冒险,但是很有趣的是,这也是与我们退休的客户的对话。”
And Rebecca East, luxury travel advisor at Life:Styled Group, described adventure travelers as: “Quite often it’s couples looking for big ways to experience the ‘wow’ factor for a fun proposal idea or as a memorable honeymoon adventure. Some of our couples are more mature and have put their kids through college and are now looking to explore new places. A change that we’re seeing now is that some families are looking to combine these age groups to spend quality time together as an extended/blended family and looking for new ways to experience life together.”
Where can you send adventure travelers?
Our adventure travel experts offered these destinations and activities as possibilities to recommend to your clients:
南非——safari,防鲨笼潜水,犀牛助教gging, quad biking, mountain biking, sand boarding, hiking, biking, caving, conservation walks, bungy jumping, helicopter adventures, river boating, surfing, and scuba diving.
Rwanda – gorilla trekking, canopy walk adventure, safari, volcano hike, chimpanzee tracking, and coffee/tea tasting on a farm in the mountains.
博茨瓦纳和津巴布韦 - 探索Okavango Delta,Safari Waterways,Sunset Cruise Safari,Victoria Falls上的直升机,导游的步行,动物追踪和Big 5。
意大利白云岩 - 远足旅馆经过Feratta(一条山脸上的路线,配备了钢电缆,梯子和其他固定锚),户外攀岩,划船,骑自行车,滑雪,雪鞋和攀冰。
加拉帕戈斯 - 浮潜,潜水,野生动植物观看,与鲨鱼一起游泳,观鸟,远足和冲浪。
南极洲 - 十二生肖巡游,皮划艇,观看鲸鱼,远足,冰川观看和徒步旅行,野生动植物观看,研究探险和海底极地探险。
Peru – hiking the Inca trail, climbing Machu Picchu, Amazon excursions, jungle trekking, dune buggy rides, sand surfing, surfing, and paragliding.
How can you break into adventure travel?
对于那些刚开始冒险旅行的人,Iantosca说:“关键在于理解体验。首先,我建议顾问应该考虑自己喜欢的新的,令人兴奋的活动,这些活动会在舒适的区域内考虑自己的自我发现。这将向顾问开放一个全新的业务。然后,我亲自请新客户描述他们对冒险旅行的看法。您可以通过成为活跃的听众来学到很多东西。如果客户分享他们的恐惧,那么将对话过渡到可以立即消除这些对话并将其重新接触到其舒适水平的事物的事物很容易,但仍在尝试一些新的东西引起他们兴趣。
“我想看看客户是否首先对新体验开放。我创建了一种询问他们个人兴趣的表格,如果他们过着积极的生活方式,这有助于开始真正有趣的发现之路。”他继续说:“所有人都在远足吗?不,当然不是,但是我知道我的每个客户都很活跃,过着健康的生活方式,并想成为参与者……我最喜欢的工作是与客户分享新的体验。我问他们是否可以设想自己做这些事情。”
The benefit to you, as a business owner, is that this takes the conversation away from the type of travel that is viewed as a commodity, focusing merely on, for instance, hotel rooms and prices. Instead, it’s all about recommending a complete and authentic experience that is not prefabricated.
Iantosca的临别赠言是其他旅游顾问who are considering getting into this niche: “Do it, do it now, and don’t look back! Do it right now. There are many great suppliers who would love to work with these agents. Most agents say ‘I don’t have those type of clients,’ but that’s their own fear talking. If they get the right training and are in with the right group, the sky is the limit, and they’ll find themselves on a new career path that is full of unexpected, beautiful surprises at every turn. For example, Virtuoso has the Adventure Travel community - it’s a great place to start if the agent is connected with a Virtuoso agency. I joined Virtuoso specifically for its community of suppliers, relationships, and the opportunity to be associated with and learn this niche, which was the best decision I could have ever made.”
FROM THE SPONSOR:
South African Tourism is the national tourism agency responsible for the marketing of South Africa as a preferred leisure and business events destination. From breathtaking beauty to sun-soaked coasts; from wildlife to active adventure; from vibrant urban energy to the incredible warmth and cultural diversity of its people – South Africa is a traveler’s dream. Now, after two years of restricted travel movements, South Africa invites the world to come experience this country filled with rich, authentic, unfiltered experiences and to “Live Again!” South Africa has been reopened for tourism since November 2020 with globally benchmarked health and safety protocols in place, including requiring travelers to have a negative COVID-19 PCR test 72 hours prior to arrival, as well as visitors and locals alike wearing face masks in public. For further information on South African Tourism, visitwww.southafrica.net/trade. For the latest travel trade updates, follow @SAtraveltrade on Twitterwww.twitter.com/SATravelTrade.