An introduction to Adventure Tourism

Hiking on the W Trek in Patagonia Photo by Toomas Tartes on Unsplash

Hello readers!

I hope you are all having a lovely March so far! I feel like this month has been a whirlwind, every weekend I have had something to do that required a lot of preparation and the month has flown by.

For international women’s day, I taught a beginner painting class on a Friday night and then some in-person yoga on Sunday morning of the same weekend. Two days ago I was part of a circus performance on hoop and silks and then this upcoming weekend is the marathon I’ve been training for - wish me luck! I am very excited to have a little bit of a slow down after the race and a calendar that is kind of empty. I love being busy but it has not left me with a lot of time to devote to this newsletter this month. Oh well

This month, I am writing about adventure tourism! I researched this topic quite a bit in graduate school because it is one I am interested in and have participated in. Adventure tourism is not just extreme sports, a type of tourism in which tourists engage in adventure activities such as trekking/hiking, climbing, rafting, scuba diving, or the likes.

I would personally include other things like travelling to do the following:

• ski or snowboard

• run trail races or to trail run

• mountain biking

• kayaking

• ziplining

One publication describes it as follow

Adventure tourism is a niche sector of the travel industry that focuses on experiences that allow people to enjoy a thrilling activity.

You don’t have to be an adrenaline-seeker to participate in or enjoy adventure tourism. Here’s a good explanation from Bike Hike Adventures - I travelled to Ecuador with this company before the pandemic, and thus before my tourism program and before my current job for a tour operator, but Bike Hike defines it very well.

Forbes has a slightly less positive description of adventure tourism.

Photo by Sergey Pesterev on Unsplash

Adventure Tourism Impacts

Adventure tourism is a branch of tourism where its participants are outside and more likely to want to protect the environment since the outdoors is their playground. However, due to adventure tourism’s growth and overtourism in general, it also greatly impacts destinations. Mount Everest is a great example of this. In the next issue, I’ll be including parts of one of my research papers for the analysis and explanation of the impacts of years of mountaineering tourism on Mount Everest. Below is a sample to prepare you for next issue. I won’t be copying and pasting the paper in full, but sharing small parts.

A 2014 study estimated that fifty tons of trash have been left behind on Mount Everest over six decades (Harris, 2014). As climbers ascend the mountain, they discard items to make the extremely difficult and dangerous journey easier, and this trash has been left behind for years. In a study of the Indian Himalayan trekking routes, non-biodegradable waste was found to be the most harmful to the environment and is the biggest source of pollution on the trekking routes (Kuniyal, 2005). This type of garbage is especially worse at high altitude where it does not decompose because of the extremely cold temperatures. This means Everest is a trash dump for tents, oxygen tanks, food containers, batteries, bodies of deceased climbers, and human waste. All of this garbage is sliding down the mountain due to glacial melt and streams running down the slopes to the Sherpa villages. Some of the garbage is simply left behind at the various camps between Base Camp and the peak, and climate change is exposing six decades of trash that has piled up (Sharma & Schultz, 2019).

Pretty gross, right? Don’t worry, it isn’t all bad. In the next issue I’ll discuss Everest and other adventure tourism destinations with environments that are negatively impacted by tourism and in various stages of mitigating the impacts or attempting to do so.

Have you participated in adventure tourism? What are your thoughts on visitor caps and the relatively high cost to participate that excludes large numbers of people? I’m not trying to demonize adventure tourism at all, I’ve participated and plan to in the future, but want to get everyone thinking. :)

Links for this issue:

Mount Fuji to implement a visitor cap and fees for climbers, good news for the mountain!

I’ve linked this in the past but it is worth a repost Why you should never put your suitcase on the bed, ever. Your suitcase is gross. GROSS. Do yourself a favor and don’t put it on your bed at home or in a hotel or anywhere you stay. At home, I pack mine on the floor. I do wipe it down after a trip, but not the wheels like the article suggests. But, I’m going to start! At a hotel, I put the suitcase on a luggage rack, a chair, the floor, a table, anything but the bed. Rest assured there are some workarounds for those who cannot physically pack on the floor, see below! I love the idea of having a luggage rack in your guest room - that feels very fancy but like a nice personal touch.

Once you’re back home, there are a few alternatives to packing your bag on the floor. If you use packing cubes, it’s easiest to lay out what you want to pack and fold it all into the cubes on the bed. Then just organize the cubes in the suitcase on the floor. If you want to avoid the floor entirely and don’t mind the extra laundry, throw a spare towel across the bed and pack your luggage on top of that.

Amazon sells a variety of luggage racks for $100 or less; you can keep one in your closet and pull it out when you pack. It also doesn’t hurt to get one for your guest room: It’s easier than getting into an argument with your mother-in-law about why you don’t want her suitcase on your white comforter.

Okay, stepping down from my soapbox now that I’ve flown my freak flag. If you’ve never thought about it, now you know. :)

Death Valley had enough rain in February that you could kayak in the park.

Exploring Berlin’s art and design scene. My international travel plans have changed a bit this year and I’m going to Berlin with my sister in early June so I’ve started saving and bookmarking any Berlin info.

The best new DOLLY PARTON EXPERIENCES.

Photo by Wes McFee on Unsplash

Consuming:

I’m having a bit of trouble focusing on things this month and as mentioned, I have been really busy prepping for various shows, teaching, and running. I honestly look forward to doing nothing the afternoon before the marathon and parking myself somewhere sunny to read or knit or stay off of my feet. So, this issue’s consuming section is quite short.

Feud, the second season. Just started, it is a slow start and I am not sure if I’ll continue yet. I also started watching Poor Things last night and while I am intrigued and feel like I know where it is going, I am also not sure if I want to go on that journey with it. I am not a quitter so I’ll probably finish it tonight. UPDATE: I did finish, what a weird story. I would not watch it again, it felt tedious, shocking, and weird for the sake of being those three? Maybe I’m simple but I was not impressed. If you did see it, what did you think?

I’m still reading In Praise of Slow by Carl Honoré because quite honestly I can barely keep my eyes open long enough to read for more than 10 minutes at night right now. I’m embracing the theme of the book and reading it slowly. I am not bored with it, just tired.

That’s all for this issue!

-Sonya