Unit 14 Responsible tourism - P3 , M2 & D1

P3 - Presentation notes

My specialist tourism I have chosen is Adventure tourism because it is becoming more popular type of tourism and there are lot of tour operators specialising in that tourism market.

Adventure tourism is when people travel to explore popular and remote areas. Adventure tourists seek adrenaline rushes when holiday. People who go on adventure holidays where there is an added risk of danger. Examples of adventure tourism is: going to an extreme climate destination (Cold or hot) or where you need a lot of vaccinations.

Market profile

The tour operator I have chosen is Exodus as they are a tour operator who specialise in adventure tourism

Where the tour is based: Head office is based in Balham which is in South London

Company Type: Exodus is private limited

Date of Incorporation: 974 which was over 41 years ago

Parent Company: TUI travel

Amount of employees: 50

Turnover: £7.7 million every year

Cash: £7.8 million

Assets: £22.3 million

Liabilities: £14.8 million

Identification and description

Typical locations around the world for the tourism: Africa, Antarctica, Artic, Asia, Europe, Middle East, North America, Central America, South America and Oceania

The types of adventure tourism Exodus are: walking, cycling, mixed activity, winter, family, culture and wildlife
Adventure tourism takes place in all different areas: rivers, mountains. Purpose build attractions and hills.

All various components of the holiday:

Transport is included in all of the packages during the tours. Sometimes there is flights or trains included in the price to get to the destination of the adventure holiday but not all of the time. However, Exodus say that once the holiday is booked they can contact airlines and arrange the flights or other transport methods if needed. Once arrived at the location, the tour operator will arrange transport from the airport or train station depending on how the tourist arrives and then to the hotel for the brief. During the tour, all transport methods are provided whether it be rail, sea, car or air to get from one location to the next stop of the tour.

Accommodation is also included in the tour holidays as the tourists only need a proper hotel stay for the first (and maybe the last night depending on the flight back home) and then the rest of the accommodation is in the tour and will change often if not every day. On the itinerary before and after booking the accommodation will be stated allowing the tourists to know where they are staying and they can then research and look at the accommodation

Clear identification of equipment and resources required

The equipment that is needed for adventure tourism is: bikes, climbing ropes, wet suites, googles, climbing pegs, whistles, jet skies, boots, water proof jackets, walking maps and adventure booklets are some of the main equipment needed for adventure tourism 

Guides are needed are also needed for adventure tourism as the tourists need an experienced tour guide to tell the tourists about the locations where they are exploring and advice of what to do next. The tour guide will also tell the tourists any information they know about the area which may not be common knowledge and answer questions if the tourists have any. Tour guides will also stay in the accommodation with the tourists, go out for meals with them and even cook meals for the guests to enjoy.

Instructions are quite often needed for tourists to be given by the tour guide to be told what to do and when. Instructions are also required for the tourists to know if the are doing a sport whilst on the holiday such as water skiing or canoeing and need to be told how to operate the the boat.

Insurance is also required and states clearly on the website that it is not combined with the tour and that the tourists to book their own travel insurance. Exodus may give recommendations on good travel insurance companies depending on the tour or may have a relationship with an travel insurance company meaning that the customers will get a lower price.

Detailed links to market segments

Age group -Exodus as a tour operator appeal to a certain age range such as gap year travellers when they have finished and want one more adventure before going into employment or in the summer in between university years.

Adventure holidays also appeals to tourists who have finished A-levels and want a holiday before going to university in the September

Gender – Gender is not really applicable to adventure tourists as the type of tourism appeals to both.

Income –The amount of income does not really affect the types of travellers who are interested in adventure tourism. The only impact the amount of disposable income has on adventure tourism is that the type of tour changes as it could be a group or private adventure, how long the adventure holiday lasts for depends on money as the more money someone has the longer they can go away for as they can afford the expensive holiday and also the location of the adventure holiday as long haul destination holidays are more dearer than the short haul adventure holidays

Geographic location –

The location of where the adventure tourists does not affect their interest in participating in adventure tourism the only thing that relates the location of adventure tourists is how far they live to a major airport depending on the location of the adventure tourism. Evidently adventure tourism is based on location of the holiday as adventure tourists do not want a beach holiday where they stay in a hotel but to explore different destinations.

Physiographic factors –Adventure tourism could have something to do of the adventure tourists wanting to also participate in responsible tourism whilst exploring the destination and be responsible. For example going to on adventure holiday and staying in eco friendly accommodation that uses renewable energy or food in the restaurants is locally produced.

Another factor is that the adventure tourist wants to gain confidence and go somewhere on their own to feel adrenaline and experience new and exciting things whilst understanding their selves.

  

M2 – analyse and interpret adventure tourism data

Relevant data determining the provider’s size, market segments and products

Adventure tourism can be split into two: hard and soft adventure tourism. Hard adventure tourism comes with risk and challenges giving the tourist adrenaline push them mentally and physically in all weather conditions. The activities are: Canoeing, bungee jumping, climbing, trekking, rock climbing, rafting and wilderness survival.

The other kind of adventure tourism is soft, this is when the adventure tourists do not want to put themselves in any danger and cause harm to others but still explore and learn things about themselves. The activities relating to soft adventure tourism is. Bird watching, hiking, kayaking, bicycling, camping, cross- country skiing, riding and surfing.

The adventure tourism sector is made u of small independent companies offering adventure holidays because it is still a young and new kind of tourism so not many of the big tour operators (Thomas Cook or TUI) have joined to get some of the competition. The small companies are based in areas far away from London and have small offices as everything is done online or via phone.

Currently, for small companies offering adventure holidays there is a bit of competition as there are more developed tour operators such as Exodus have got the most competitive advantage as they are well known and offer many different kinds of tours in various locations whereas small companies only offer one kind of adventure tourism in a limited amount of destinations  

In a survey done by Adventure Travel Society out of the 2000 people answered. 46% said they participate in soft tourism and 16% participate in hard tourism.
In 2009 it was stated that the average adventure tourist spends around £412 on booking their adventure holiday and then in 2012 it was £659.20 and is still growing today. The money spent does not include the flight and equipment cost so it would be more.
The normally length for an adventure holiday is ten days and many tour operators who specialize in adventure tourism offer tours which are ten days’ long

Tourists participate in adventure tourism because of many reasons. It was stated that they choose adventure tourism for the view and then the activities available and then the climate of the destination

The UNWTO (United Nations World Tourism Organization) have made a  prediction saying  that by 2030 there will be 1.8 billion extra adventure tourists by 2030. The Organization also predicts that growth of international tourism arrivals in emerging economies will grow at double the pace of developed nations..

The 2013 Market Study was done in 2013 and there were many facts and they were:

Adventure tourism is the fastest and youngest sectors in travel and tourism as every year there are 20% more adventure tourists wanting to take part in the specialist tourism. Also in North America, South America and Europe has experienced an average yearly size increase of 65% from 2009 to 2012. It is growing yearly in them continents because of the yearly increase in adventure tourists.  

Adventure travelers are around 36 and are younger than non adventure tourist average age

73% of adventure travelers plan to participate in an adventure activity on their next trip.  This could be either soft or hard adventure as it could mean the tourist want to spend a day of the adventure holiday birdwatching (soft adventure tourism) or spending four days out of a month doing extreme wild survival (hard adventure tourism)

45% of adventure travelers plan on using a tour operator on their next trip. This is a high percentage of people and they want to use a tour operator as it is easier to book a ready made holiday tour rather than doing it their selves and might not get it any cheaper (accommodation and transfer) and also by booking it with a tour operator it means that there is a tour guide included and can learn about the host destination

However, this data I have collected is from various news articles and adventure tourism market studies. I contacted the tour operators for data but they did not reply  

D1 –growth in adventure tourism and suggestions of new products

There are many gaps within adventure tourism that I have identified which are: limited destinations, small amount of customer types. I will be giving recommendations how they can adapt their products and create new products to meet needs of current and new customers.

Limited destinations

As adventure tourism is growing and attracting more people every year, they will get soon bored of the destinations they can go to.

As a recommendation, I think adventure tourism should think of new destinations they can arrange tours and holidays to go to within the continents.

If, an adventure tourism operator already goes to all of the destinations they could arrange tours to different locations in the destination for example a walking tour in Australia could visit more historic towns and other locations but still have the same impact of the holiday (hard or soft and still want a holiday with an adventure impact)

Small amount of customer types

Because adventure tourism is always appealing to more tourists or are wanting to keep booking adventure holidays. However, there is still a great amount of tourists who have not been on an adventure holiday either soft or hard. By having more customer types to attract to.

I will be saying what tourist customers they can attract and how.

Elder people

Currently, elder tourists are only interested in soft adventure tourism as it doesn’t come with any risks to their health. However, tour operators could adapt their tours and holidays to attract elder tourists to go on hard adventure tours. What they could do is have a day of canoeing (hard adventure activity) on a soft adventure holiday like on a camping holiday. The tour operator planning the holiday could state that they would have an expert canoer and would be doing most of the work moving the boat and then allowing the elderly tourists to enjoy the views on the lake without putting a strain on their health

Disabled customers

At present, disabled customers are unable to take part in adventure tourism due to many reasons: on the flights they may not be suitable for people who need certain seats and extra help whilst on the flight, not having suitable accommodation for wheelchair users as the rooms may be narrow and bathrooms may not have a wet room but a normal small shower.

Also some locations of the tours and holidays may be unsuitable if the ground is not ideal for a wheelchair or if there is a lot of walking.
However, there are things that can be done to make disabled customers part of adventure tourism and that is:

Ø  Have tour operators who specialize in adventure tours for disabled people

Ø  Find or build accommodation with is suitable for people with disabilities

Ø  Plan and make activities both hard and soft tourism that could meet their needs such as having a cycling tour where people ride the bikes and attach the wheel chair and person on the back

Families

Even though some families are already participating in adventure tourism, others are put off as they don’t think its safe or the children wont not like it. There are many things that can be done to appeal to families and they are:

Ø  Have flights were they are suitable for families

Ø  Have accommodation that are more suitable for families such as two rooms in the hotel and a lounger rather than a room where the bed and everything is in one.

Ø  Design tours that are appeal to families such as walking tours that are only for a few hours everyday so it does not tire the children out or make them bored

Ø  Hard adventure activities should be included to increase the interest of the children and the activities could be: doing white river rafting or bungee jumping with a licensed sky diver