Activity and Adventure travel market – trends in 2007 – TravelMole guest comment by Annie Corcoran, head of Crystal Active

People today are better travelled than any previous generation and they are not just to looking to visit a destination – they want an experience when they get there.

Just going to a destination is no longer enough. This desire for first hand and unique experiences has led to a growth in both the activity and adventure travel sectors as holiday makers now want more than a beach, sun and a sight-seeing tour.

Long haul destinations are becoming increasingly popular because programmes like Michael Palin’s series on the Himalayas make the remote seem more accessible and in our increasingly urban and sedentary world, people are looking for more challenges (this can also be seen in the dramatic increase in numbers of people competing in marathons and triathlons).

The desire for a healthy lifestyle and to be fit (and to look fit) is an important part of everyday life and even though this can sometimes be more perception than reality (we all join the gym but we don’t always go!), we also like to think that we will continue this regime when we have more time i.e. when we are on holiday.

Increasingly we are also seeing changes to the preferred length of holidays – people like short breaks which they take more frequently and longer holidays (15 days+) when they will go on more long-haul travels (the old ‘trip of a lifetime’ except that now we all expect to take far more than one!)

The increase in sports coverage and the cross-over of sport and leisure pursuits into everyday lifestyle and fashion has also increased the number of people wanting to try such sports as scuba diving, windsurfing, kite-surfing and mountain biking which in turn has led to an increase in activity-based travel.

This has grown primarily as a direct market due to the degree of specialist knowledge on both the activity and the destination needed (and required) by customers.

All travel customers are now much more informed and information-hungry and the web is an important tool in satisfying this demand, which again has reinforced the direct-booking trend.

There are a number of specialist travel agencies that are well equipped to deal with these new and growing products but to date the main high street retailers have been reluctant to engage with this developing sector of the holiday market.

Adventure holidays are not just for the young ‘adrenaline junkies’ but now families, young professionals and even the grey market are booking such activity holidays, whether it is paragliding over a glacier or walking the Haute Route.

Therefore high street agents need to understand that there is a wide market and offer consumers the choice.