2013 Adventure Conference

Registration is now open for the 2013 Adventure Conference will take place from 21-23 May in Scotland. Papers to include:

•  Celebrating natural capital - covering issues of ecosophy, back-to-basics adventure, being and not necessarily doing, traditional adventure, friluftsliv and making the most of our natural capital.

•  Inclusive adventure - exploring the issue of accessibility to outdoor sport, leisure and tourism (in any of its guises) which pertain to adventure, including: who are the missing populations in the adventure world (eg. genders, ages, races, mobilities, socio-economic status)? How might they be enabled to experience the outdoors?

• Supporting the adventure experience: infrastructure and integration - investigations into the supporting elements that go to make the holistic adventure experience, from food, accommodation (in whatever form these may take), service quality, transportation, the promotion and marketing of experiences and strategies for stretching the season.

• Adventure responsibilities - is outdoor leisure and tourism really such a light-touch, groovy phenomenon? What is the real legacy of the ‘taming’ of adventure?

•  Creating / branding adventure destinations and sports venues - encompassing a range of elements such as resort development, product and destination management and marketing.

Social Media

This article discusses outcomes from a panel at the 2012 Adventure Travel World Summit looking at future trends in marketing; conclusions were that the humble video is now very much the new ‘big thing’ in social media marketing. They use the case study of an online travel company Airbnb, to illustrate the point; they successfully launched their Air TV channel, using videos to show potential customers the types of accommodation on offer.

Rob Torres, Google’s head of travel, gives his perspective on the power of 
adventure travel content.

Climb a wall

The BMC website provides news, features and events on climbing; equipment, safety and medical advice is available as well as various downloadable guidebooks. Whether you want to get the hang of climbing or need to stretch your skills a little further, the BMC Climbing Wall Directory gives details of all facilities around the UK here or try the Regional Access database.  Their website also very helpfully contains videos, giving a step by step guide to beginners.   For those researching the topic, grab this survey on climbing wall users,

Johnny Dawes will be making a flying visit to the Redpoint Climbing Centre in Birmingham soon - book now for a masterclass or lecture.

 

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2012 Adventure Travel World Summit

Registration is now open for the ninth  Adventure Travel World Summit (ATWS) to be held at Lucerne in Switzerland, from 8th to 11th October 2012. Adventure Travel Trade Association’s (ATTA) annual event will be held  at the KKL Luzern (Culture and Congress Centre), built by renowned architect Jean Nouvel and is expected to draw 600 adventure tourism professionals from more than 50 nations  more...

Links to reports and pictures from previous summits, can be found on this page.

The UK Ropes Course Guide 2011

The AAIAC has produced a document for operators, trainers, builders, inspectors and constructors of ropes courses.

This guidance is intended to assist all those involved with ropes courses to comply with EN15567:2007 which sets out the standards to be met for the installation of new ropes courses and the operation of both new and existing courses.

Conference & Call for Papers

The School of Adventure Studies UHI in Fort William and Lochaber Outdoor Learning Partnership are pleased to announce an upcoming Conference

“Meanings, markets and magic” -  2011 Adventure Conference

Dates: 15th/16th September 2011

Venue: School of Adventure Studies, Fort William, Scotland

Click here for more details

On the Road

On the Road is the story of Jack Kerouac and his friends as they travelled across America over a 3 year period. In 1951, the original manuscript which formed a single scroll approximately 150 feet long, was completed in 20 days of continuous typing. It is largely autobiographical and has become one of the most iconic literary manuscripts in history.

To coincide with the 50th anniversary of the novel's first UK publication, the scroll, along with maps, photographs, records, books and memorabilia will be on show at the Barber Institute of Fine Arts in Edgbaston until 28th January. For more information, click here.

ABTA Magazine

The August issue of ABTA magazine is jam-packed as always with news from the travel industry. Adventure travel is the cover story in this one with examples given of various activities and links to tour operators. Destinations in focus are the Red Sea Riviera, Argentina, India and Chicago. News stories include air travel, technology, business travel and hotels. A profile of Sunvil Holidays is given. Just some of the other topics discussed are homeworkers, business travel and high-speed rail travel across Europe with samples of destinations.

Latest articles...

Read some views on extreme tourism in this blog; this article tries to answer the question of who's participating in this activity and why. From extreme to dark tourism, Hitler lost his head soon after the heavily criticised waxwork was unveiled at Tussauds in Berlin. There have been a number of abstracts and articles on Chinese tourists and how destinations are marketing and catering for them in Leisuretourism.com recently (non-Athens passwords apply). Also included are various reports on the Beijing Olympics as well as articles with a special focus on medical tourism, wildlife tourism and impact of tourism on World Heritage sites.

The Ordnance Survey Outdoors Show

Ordnance Survey have organised their very own show at the NEC, 14-16 March. There will be a whole host of activities ranging from photography to canoeing, a Bushcraft camp, the latest gear ranges, exhibitors on hand including the British Mountaineering Council and the Institute for Outdoor Learning, and much more; and if you have any energy left, why not join the rat race?

more...