An Ecological Dynamics Perspective on Adventure Tourism (original) (raw)

Adventure tourism as a research tool in non-tourism disciplines

Tourism Recreation Research, 2014

Tourism research can gain broader academic recognition if findings from tourism research become relevant to, and cited within, other academic disciplines. Adventure tourism can provide opportunities for ground breaking research on wide-ranging issues such as: motivations for human mobility; individual economic valuation of high-rarity, low-probability experiences; volunteer assumption of physical personal risk, and its legal consequences; positive and negative effects of tourism on conservation; psychological models of human emotions; the anthropology of interactions between highly disparate human cultures; the use of autoethnography as a research tool; construction of social capital and cohesion; altruistic or competitive behaviour under severe stress; the design of communications systems; establishment and operation of human relationships involving extreme personality types; the physiology of acute stress; and human perceptions of risk and emotion, the passage of time, and the purpose of life. From an academic perspective, adventure tourism is much more than simply a substantial subsector of the mass tourism industry. It is an opportunity to conduct more widely relevant and recognized research, publishable in tourism journals yet also citeable in other disciplines. Keywords: adventure tourism experiences; research tool; cross- disciplinary research.

Leisure, adventure and risk: thoughts on activities performed in nature

The objective of this article is to contemplate concepts of adventure and risk manifested in activities performed in nature. The discourses contained herein are part of a broader study where the approach works with a universe of motives, aspirations, values, beliefs and attitudes, corresponding to a more in-depth space of processes, relationships and phenomena. It was possible to perceive that adventure activities in nature bear countless meanings, relating to new discoveries, new challenges, the search for the unknown, re-finding oneself, uncertainty, spontaneity, cooperation, friendship, among others. These activities encompass diverse forms of experimentation, pointing beyond the physical risk and including the symbolic and imaginary risk.

No risk, no fun: the role of perceived risk in adventure tourism

2004

There is a long tradition in tourism research to investigate the issue of perceived risk. The reason lies in the tourism industry's aim to reduce the risk perceptions among tourist in order to increase sales. Perceived risk is thus seen as a hurdle to attracting tourists and the managerial aim is to reduce it. At the same time there is a sub-sector of tourism industry, adventure tourism that seems to work in precisely the opposite way: perceived risk is something attractive to the potential consumers, something they are actively searching for. The aim of this paper is to investigate past literature on risk in the context of tourism consumer behaviour and to compare operationalisations of perceived risk in this context that have been developed in the past. This paper is a review paper and as such functions as an initial step of an exploratory study to determine factors of demandincreasing perceived risk relevant to define the concept. Based on the review an initial conceptualisation of demand-increasing perceived risk (desired risk) in the area of adventure tourism is provided.

Adventure tourism: a perspective paper

Tourism Review, 2019

Purpose This paper aims to demonstrate the importance of adventure tourism in tourism the tourism industry and in tourism research. Apart from giving an overview of current literature and discussion, this paper also looks into future trends in adventure tourism. Design/methodology/approach This paper looks at the state of the art of adventure tourism re-search and discusses current trends. Based on literature, it gives an overview of the development of adventure tourism, the current situation and how adventure tourism will develop in the future. Findings This paper discusses the development of research in the field of adventure tourism and propagates that research should be increasingly focussing on theory building. The work by Rantala and Rokenses (2016) was the much-needed kick-start to lay the groundwork for a theoretical framework. The last few years have seen a rise in older tourists embarking for adventure trips, as well as families. Younger adults seek microadventures nearby ...

Active engagement with nature: outdoor adventure tourism, sustainability and wellbeing

Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 2019

This article draws on the conflicting arguments surrounding outdoor adventure tourism activities to determine if such activities might usefully be considered beneficial for humans and nature, and how they might offer avenues for sustainable tourism practice. Research in the field has often examined outdoor adventure activities through a lens that either highlights their negative environmental impacts or has sought to conceptualise motivations and/or experiences. In this article, we argue that through practices that are often seen as destructive, there is the possibility to think differently about human-nature relationships and pro-environmentalism. To explore these issues, we draw on data collected from a series of semi-structured interviews with outdoor adventure tourists. Our analysis highlights how outdoor adventure tourism facilitates reconnections to nature, offering potential wellbeing impacts and pro-environmental attitudes and behaviours. We conclude that outdoor adventure activities as a form of sustainable tourism have potential implications for our understanding of, and engagement with, sustainability, mental health and wellbeing.

Risk as a Motivation for Adventure Tourist

ASEAN Journal on Hospitality and Tourism, 2017

Adventure activities are commonly associated with risky activities. The affiliation between adventure tourism and risk has made adventure tourism experience distinct from other tourism subset. Therefore risk plays a role as motivation factor for adventure tourists' to participate in adventure activities. However, different study mentioned that adventure tourist's unwillingness to be the subject of actual risk also provide a different view on risk role in adventure tourism. This research aims to investigate the role of risk for adventure tourists' motivation to engage with adventure tourism. This study uses quantitative research methods to achieve its aim. The data was gathered using a self-completion questionnaire, which targeted adventure tourists through the internet. This questionnaire was posted to several adventureaffiliated groups found in social network for foreseeable time and able to get reasonable amount of responds from intended target. The findings confirm that risk affiliation with adventure tourism activities exists through tourism perspective. The findings also confirm that risk is part of tourists' motivation to take part in adventure, hence describe role of risk in adventure activities