Sports tourism means travel away from one's home to join a sport activity for leisure or for competition, travel to be a spectator in a sports, as well as travel to visit an attraction such as a sports complex. Adventure tourism, on the other hand, means tourist spots and activities that are generally not accessible to the majority of travelers. It can be because the area to be visited is remote or the planned activities are hard and difficult. Adventure tourism is increasingly being recognized as a field in its own right.
Since the 1950's, the travel industry has grown fast. According to the United Nations World Tourism Organization, an international tourism arrival jumped from 25 million in 1950 to 684 million in 2000, and is predicted to skyrocket to 1 billion by 2020. A pattern has emerged wherein travelers go more for experience-based rather than destination-based travels. In response to travelers seeking new ways to make their vacation meaningful, tourism providers offer more tailor-made packages. In addition, the popularity of active lifestyles translate into many travelers looking for ways to integrate their fondness for a particular activity into a trip to a new destination.
The adventure market is broadly divided into two categories: hard and soft. The hard category is also called as "extreme" and is suited for 'danger rangers' as it involves strenuous physical exertion that is usually dangerous to both life and limb. Rock climbing, heliskiing, and white-water kayaking are some activities that fall under this category. Snow-coach explorations of glaciers fall under the second category and generally targets non-adrenaline addicts and families.
When planning your trip, make sure to be advised regarding insurance that may apply to your determined activities. Trips to remote areas are best done in groups. Also check about the weather that may prevail during your trip. Be advised if the agency has safety measures put in place. Finally, you should be aware regarding any medical conditions you might have.
As travel preferences become more specific and individually focused, in line with the growth of sports and adventure tourism, individual providers of exceptional sports or adventure experience find more opportunities to outcompete mass-market tourism entities. A USAID study in 2007 reported that adventure tourism favors sustainable development efforts, channeling economic benefits of development back to the community rather than to huge foreign or commercial tourism entities. The choices you make as a traveler thus impacts not only your travel experience but also the lives of the communities you visit and interact with.
Tourism entities take a travel market focused entirely on participating or watching sports as a unique and exciting opportunity, but there is the question whether sports and adventure tourism is a new or recreated concept. For recreational managers, the opportunities and impacts regarding non-competitive sportsmanship has been acknowledged for years, and sports tourism is thus taken as a marketing strategy. The idea in the sports industry is that sports tourism is being used to capitalize on the growth and interest in both non-competitive and competitive sport by integrating forces with sport, recreation, and tourism professionals and organizations. For instance, the more people that join in the recreational level, the more sports supplies they tend to buy and the greater the likelihood that they will progress towards participation in competitive level, and the more likely they are to watch sports.
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Exequiel M. is a writer from Mondex Professionals. Mondex Professionals is a virtual team of trained, experienced and multi-talented home-based workers providing software and web design and development, research, writing, graphics design, and data entry jobs to start-up, small and medium businesses around the world.
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