Peter Varley

ADVENTURE AND ACTIVITY TOURISM: NEW TRENDS

ME• HOSPITALITY, THEN MARKETING, THEN BACK TO EXPERIENCES

• MY READING – RHYTHMANALYSIS, AND NON-PLACES

• OUR PROJECTS – FOOD, ADVENTURE, NORDIC HEALTHY TOURISM

• (‘Angus’ story’) SCOTLAND – NECORAS, LANGOSTINOS, BUEY, Y MAS! Y… NOTHINGNESS!

• YOU – NAVARRA / SPAIN

• …A TALE OF TWO CITIES???

A TALE OF TWO KAYAKS1. 2 hour session

2. Sigrid’s fjord exploration

IDEAS FOR TODAY

• TIME• 'Crafting high value experience in Navarra – nature-based

tourism beyond the ‘selfie’ photograph: - linking adventure, gastronomy and active nature experiences’

• New trends- bringing activity, music, arts, gastronomy and adventure together in astounding wild places.

• Examples from Norway, Scotland and Spain.

WHAT IS ‘ADVENTURE’?

• Originally part of everyday pre-modern life – a means of survival

• War, crusades, exploration / exploitation / colonialism

• Mythology, fairytales, narratives

• Training, education, human resource development

• Leisure / tourism business

• The ultimate luxury?

ADVENTURE TOURISM IN CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY• From grand tours to ‘capsule-adventure’

• Convenient

• Repeatable, reliable, rationalised

• Quality assured

• Time constrained

• Grew out of adventure education, outdoor centres, Outward Bound, military training

• Much of this is ‘hard’ adventure

ADVENTURE TOURISM• ‘hard adventure’ – 1-8% of $263bn market

• Travel and soft adventure account for the rest!

• Yet we do not cater well for these (second category) massive markets:

• High income, educated market

• 20%+ international growth

• International travellers are looking for longer trip length – 5 day minimum stay

• EVERYONE is talking about massive growth in adventure travel/tourism

CONTEMPORARY CONDITIONS

• Industrialisation and capitalism

• Separation between urban and rural, urban and ‘wild’

• The advent of the (industrial) holiday

• Sedentary lifestyles – home as techno-leisure centre, obesity, heart disease, diabetes, mental illness

• Cash rich, time poor consumers

• ‘Cotton-wool kids’

• Hypermodernity – accelerating, technologised lives (Virillo)

HYPERMODERNITY

• Virillio – dromology and hypermodernity

• Auge (supermodernity and non-palces)

• Speed, acceleration, technology, image

• The helpless subject (see Giddens and ‘expert systems’)

• The wired subject (Virillio)

LEADING TO CONSUMER DEMAND FOR…• Active holidays

• Healthy holidays

• Skill-based

• Nature-based

• Immersive

• AUTHENTIC

• Cultural

• Gastronomic

• Memorable

• Tell-able!

ISSUES FACING THE OUTDOOR TOURISM INDUSTRY

• Ocularity – ‘snap n go’

• Convenience adventure – ‘scream n go’

• Low stay periods

• Seasonality

• Lack of integration across services

• Lack of professionalisation and pride in the industry (externally)

• Elite few who ‘adventure’

• Often low-value jobs

• Poor quality and deteriorating infrastructure

THE NEW TRENDS

• Built infrastructure

• Interconnectedness – “tourism is everyone’s business”

• Soft adventure growth

• Mobility, embodiment, learning, time

• Beyond the selfie – STICKY MONEY

TACTICS• ‘ACTIVE TOURISM’ – WHAT DOES THAT LOOK LIKE?

• GASTRONOMY

• GET VISITORS INVOLVED

• CATCH A FISH, FILLET A FISH, COOK A FISH, BUTCHER A DEER!

• PREPARE LOCAL SPECIALITIES

• LET THEM LEAD JOURNEYS - EXPLORE

• SHARE STORIES

• LOCAL HEROES - GREETERS

• CONFRONT MYOPIA – BE STRANGERS! NON-PLACES?

• MARKET IN ENGLISH

‘INSPIRE’INTERPRET

NATURE (via)

STORIES

PEOPLE

INVOLVEMENT

RELATE

EXPERIENCES

CONCLUDING STORY• ‘Billie’

• What can you do?

HUMAN CAPITAL + NATURAL CAPITAL

• = EXPERIENCES, MEMORIES.

• EXISTENTIALLY AUTHENTIC, RATHER THAN DISNEYFIED VERSIONS

• LOCAL, 21ST C. STORIES AS WELL AS OLD ONES