Cycle tourism

By admin | Published: May 3, 2011

Cycling-based tourism is an important sector of the wider tourism economy and there is a real opportunity for the development of the National Cycle Network to act as a catalyst for cycling based tourism. A report prepared by Sustrans The Economic Impact of Cycle Tourism in North East England identified that “Four cycle routes in North East England make a notable contribution to the regional tourism economy.  The routes; the C2C (Sea to Sea) Cycle Route,the Coast and Castles Cycle Route, Hadrian’s Cycleway and the Pennine Cycleway (northern section), form part of the National Cycle Network.

Those parts of the four routes lying within the North East region attracted 302,000 cycle trips in 2006;the combined total for the whole of the routes (North East and North West region) exceeds half a millionRoute users contributed £9.6 million of direct expenditure to the North East economy in 2006This represents a value of £13.4 million to the wider regional economy.”  

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Parkour

By admin | Published: May 3, 2011

Despite the current economic climate and pressures on local authority budgets, Westminster Council’s plans to build an outdoor managed Parkour facility  (Westbourne Green) is an excellent example of how urban adventure sport can be used as a means of combating obesity and boosting confidence amongst young people. The facility will go a long way in enabling parkour to be recognised as a mental and physical discipline as opposed to a crazy sport that’s about jumping off buildings.

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Could canoe trailing be the new adventure camping experience?

By admin | Published: May 3, 2011

Canoeing is experiencing a dramatic increase in popularity; research undertaking by CAAN in Northern Ireland has shown almost a tripling of people paddling, brought on in part by the successful ‘canoeni’ product and the successful 5 trails experience. Canoe NI seems to leading the way in promoting and packaging together short breaks through the UK.

Although there are a number of operators offering canoe short breaks / packages a number of issues need to be addressed if the potential of the product is to be realised:

  • information about trails, venues and facilities needs to be improved;
  • there is still a need for more appropriate facilities and services in the vast number of trail locations;
  • more needs to be done to make it easier for customers to book appropriate accommodation and in the packaging together of short break experiences;
  • opportunities exist to link (water-based) events with canoe trails.
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Adventure Tourism expands consultancy team

By admin | Published: May 3, 2011

Steve Jones, one of the UK’s leading extreme sports expert and Managing Director of Venture Xtreme™, has joined Adventure Tourism as an Associate Consultant. Steve has over 30 years experience in the world of adventure sport in senior roles from instructing, to manufacturing and project management. Steve created the UK’s biggest company manufacturing climbing walls, caves, ice walls and other extreme sports equipment. He has directly managed numerous extreme sports projects including the installation of many of the biggest adventure sports facilities in the world.

Venture Xtreme™ is an extreme sports brand responsible for the design, build and operation of extreme sports projects and he is currently working on projects in London, South Yorkshire, Manchester, Shanghai and Bremen, worth over £400m. Steve also acts as a consultant in extreme sports, helping and advising other companies that want to include extreme sports in their facilities mix in the UK and internationally. Steve continues to be active in a wide range of extreme sports including sailing, diving, climbing, canyoning and caving. He has made three TV documentaries recording his adventures in every corner of the planet. Steve has an enviable track record of successfully leading teams both on international expeditions and in business.

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Supertubing

By admin | Published: May 3, 2011

Supertubing a new extreme adventure experience operated by our sister company Planning Solutions Limited.

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Open Water Swimming

By admin | Published: May 3, 2011

Open water swimming  or ‘wild swimming’ can refer to any natural body of water, i.e. rivers, lakes, seas and oceans, either in lakes or the ocean.  Open water swimming is becoming an increasingly popular sport, either individually or as part of the booming sport of triathlon. It is important to realise, even if people grew up training for competitive swimming in the pool, there are aspects of open water events that necessitate adjustments in the activity. Dedicated enthusiasts require specialist training routines and race strategies.
One Wild Swimming participant recently posted in Outdoor Enthusiast Magazine – “One lake was so crystal clear that I simply sucked up water when I needed a drink, rather than heading for the support boat.”

Swimming, by its nature is a low impact, medium intensity work out, enabling a cross-section of ages to take part.  Those who typically go on a swim trek holiday may be anything from teenagers to the retired, alone or with a friend, experienced open water swimmers or those unfamiliar to being outside the swimming pool.

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Global research project confirms the strength of the adventure tourism secto

By admin | Published: May 3, 2011

Adventure tourism is no longer restricted to a handful of daredevils, having grown to a US$89 billion industry in 2009. Once thought to be a niche playground for the wealthy and the boisterous, the prodigious growth of adventure tourism in 2009 shows its popularity amongst the wider population, Tourism-Review.com reported.

The average age of an adventurous traveller is 36 years and the cost of their holiday ranges from US$450 to US$800 excluding flights and gear, according to a recent study conducted by the Business School at George Washington University. The researchers interviewed 850 tourists from the Americas and Europe, finding that the countries with the highest numbers of adrenalin-seekers are the US, Argentina, Brazil, the UK, Germany and Spain. The study highlighted the boom of adventure tourism in the wake of a financial crisis that had left a lot of other tourism industries languishing. Adventure tourism needn’t be the death-defying acts of shark diving or base jumping, the website noted, but also includes the family-friendly activities of hiking, white water rafting, and cycling.

Source: etravelblackboard

 

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