Growing pains: Can adventure travel conquer the high street?

Earlier this month, a survey of agents carried out for the Adventure Travel Conference in London found that most wanted more training from specialist operators, but for agents it is as much about educating customers as staff.

Rob Hitchings, managing director of Nomadic Travel in Exeter, says: “The phrase adventure can put people off as it can conjure up all sorts of negative connotations such as cold baths, route marches and brutally early starts. But if a client is given, for example, an itinerary such as a visit to Machu Picchu combined with a stay in a jungle lodge in the Amazon, they will take great interest in what is on offer.

“There’s a key distinction between an ‘adventure holiday’ and an adventurous itinerary. Many of our clients would not describe themselves as people who take ‘adventure holidays’, but they certainly travel to adventurous destinations.”

Philippa Baines, trade sales manager for Explore, added that many customers did not realise they could book a wide range of activity holidays through high street agencies.

“When I have done sales days at agencies, you often talk to customers who say they are too old to go on an adventure holiday, but when you explain that it includes options such as walking and cultural trips they suddenly become really interested - all it takes is a little bit of conversation,” she says.

As well as organising training and sales days for agencies, Explore has also teamed up with independent agencies to promote adventure travel on local radio stations - Explore’s operations director John Telfer and Anthony Goord, owner of Peter Goord Travel, appeared earlier this month on BBC Radio Devon in a 15-minute slot that has already netted four bookings for the Plymouth agency.

Adventure travel is already one of global tourism’s fastest-growing sectors. The United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) released its first dedicated report on the sector in November, when it estimated that it was worth $263 billion per year globally and that 42% of holidaymakers had been on trips classified as adventure holidays. This was a rise of 195% from 2010, when the sector was worth around $89 billion globally.

The UNWTO report also stresses that customers in this sector are “willing to pay a premium for exciting and authentic experiences” with adventure operators estimating that customers spend an average of $3,000pp on these holidays, with an average trip length of eight days.

Michael Edwards, Intrepid Travel’s UK and Europe regional director, compares adventure travel’s current status with where the cruise industry was 10 years ago, when it was dominated by a band of specialist agencies and was seen as being a niche product by agents outside the sector.

“The cruise companies did a good job of educating mainstream and independent agencies about the product, organising trips and paying a good level of commission. Now there’s probably not an agent who isn’t selling cruise pretty well, which was not the case 10 years ago.”

Edwards added that it was a sector that agents could cash in on as it was set to grow “exponentially” in the next few years and it was up to specialist operators to give agents the confidence to start selling these holidays.

“The internet does not compete that well in this sector, although people do book online if they are very confident about what they want. But generally it’s one of the products that agents can add value to, as people are coming to the agent for their knowledge and to solve any problems. It lends itself very well to the agent model,” said Edwards.

“We’re still a couple of years away from where we would like to be with mainstream agents. But if you fast forward a couple of years, you’re going to see a huge rise out of the adventure or experiential space from mainstream agents - customers are already asking for it.”

Operators are keen to stress that agents do not have to commit to learning about all their products across the world and can instead start offering a few itineraries in destinations and sectors they already successfully sell.

John Warner, G Adventures’ vice-president of global sales, explains: “When we start working with an agency, we urge them to focus on their traditional markets. If they already sell holidays to Thailand we would suggest offering some of our trips in Thailand, and this will provide more choice to their clients.

“Another example is that if an agency is already selling a lot of cruise, they can suggest a trip to the polar regions on an expedition ship. We have more than 700 different trips but if they just want to sell one of them that’s fine - it’s an a-la-carte system. What we tend to find is that agents will take more product as they become more comfortable with the partnership.”

The general advice from agents who have successfully tapped into the market is to avoid the word “adventure” wherever possible and talk instead about specific activities and experiences that clients may be interested in.

Abby Isaac, retail manager for Thomson in Weston-super-Mare, adds: “If you use the word adventure, it will scare them off. Instead we ask them what would be their perfect holiday and if they can picture themselves at the top of Machu Picchu or seeing orangutans in Borneo, for example.

“We like to use a lot of images which really helps. You also can’t be stereotypical about clients because we sell them to all types and ages, such as a lady in her 70s who is going to India on her own on an Intrepid trip.”