Adventure Travel Live
Author: Jim Hardcastle
Jim helps people plan and deliver effective communications. His background in the countryside sector provide him with a wealth of experience in rural marketing. Facilitation, fueled by coffee, with Post-Its at the ready, he’s here to help .
Since it's beginnings, this show has shrunk! It used to hosted in London's Olympia venue, with displays and demonstrations to really wet your appetite for adventure travel.
Despite the inspirational talks, the stories of modern explorers and the lure of some fantastic overland trips, this show seemed to have lost the fire in it's belly! Dominated by STA Travel you couldn't help but feel the intimacy and passion adventure travel used to offer has been squeezed out in favour of the hard sell.
Of course, adventure travel operates in a highly competitive commercial sector, yet slowly the independent adventure tour operators who all placed their own unique stamp within the industry have been gobbled up by travel giants TUI and First Choice. Has this led to a loss of identity, a loss of passion and a loss of orginality? Does adventure travel really even truly exsist anymore and has just merely become blurred under the umbrella of international tourism.
So how are the smaller operators surviving? How do they compete with the marketing policies and budgets backed by that of giants?
The general consensus from many of the smaller operators is that they don't have a budget for marketing and the majority of business is either repeat of word of mouth. Nothing can be more satisfying for any business owner to build a business up on reputation, yet in these recent tough times how are the smaller operators coping?
Despite the inspirational talks, the stories of modern explorers and the lure of some fantastic overland trips, this show seemed to have lost the fire in it's belly! Dominated by STA Travel you couldn't help but feel the intimacy and passion adventure travel used to offer has been squeezed out in favour of the hard sell.
Of course, adventure travel operates in a highly competitive commercial sector, yet slowly the independent adventure tour operators who all placed their own unique stamp within the industry have been gobbled up by travel giants TUI and First Choice. Has this led to a loss of identity, a loss of passion and a loss of orginality? Does adventure travel really even truly exsist anymore and has just merely become blurred under the umbrella of international tourism.
So how are the smaller operators surviving? How do they compete with the marketing policies and budgets backed by that of giants?
The general consensus from many of the smaller operators is that they don't have a budget for marketing and the majority of business is either repeat of word of mouth. Nothing can be more satisfying for any business owner to build a business up on reputation, yet in these recent tough times how are the smaller operators coping?
Well the recession has left a lot of mid to high professionals unemployed with a comfortable bank balance and the desire to do something new! Yet as the economy picks up where will this leave the markets? What is the sting in the tail? Potentially some sectors of the travel industry are yet to experience the recession and could well feel the bite back once the UK prospers again!
Yet after chatting to Exodus, they carried out their own market research not so long ago on a small cross section of previous clients. The general feedback showed the heavy majority would continue to choose an adventure holiday and sacrifice other luxuries if necessary. Adventure holidays just aren't a luxury anymore, they're a necessity!
Experts in their own field with years of operational experience, adventure travel operators have always brought life changing experiences to the table, yet with environmental and commercial pressures, are we about to enter in a new era of adventure travel?
Jo Payne LinkedIn
Tags: adventure (24), adventure travel (8), future (4), outdoor adventure (11)
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