The commercial adventure travel industry, long a niche haven for iconoclastic tour operators with unconventional active offerings in far flung locales, is colliding full force now with the mainstream market for travel experiences. With adventure travel thought to make up approximately 30 percent of all international tourism spending, the adventure travel space is seeing an influx of new service providers and guides.

This rapid expansion puts new pressure on any organization selling adventure travel experiences from a network of suppliers.  It also pressures destinations who strive to maintain a positive brand image for quality adventures in their countries.

The ATTA has an extensive record of providing research, training and education to adventure travel companies, guides and destination developers. At the heart of our training is our commitment to quality, which is predicated on safety and sustainability. The ATTA is pleased to offer safety and best practices research and advisory services to destinations and companies.

Safety Best Practices: Standards, Certification and Guide Training

For national governments, ATTA’s AdventurePro service offers a path forward to achieving a competitive adventure tourism market based on quality standards. Working through a facilitated process the ATTA can:

• Advise and collaborate with national tourism regulatory agency staff to define and adopt technical safety standards for key adventure activities
• Craft the precise language of standards, localized from base texts used at the International Standards Organization and in other nations
• Develop a certification scheme with necessary tests and policies for certifying guides and companies in alignment with the new national standard
• Train local guides to meet the standard
• Provide “train the trainer” programs to build the capacity of local guides to train future generations to best practice standards

Representative Partner for this Service:

• USAID Jordan – article in AdventureTravelNews regarding international adoption of safety standards

Safety Best Practices: Research and Education

For organizations selling adventure travel experiences delivered by a network of suppliers, adopting and promoting safety best practices throughout the network is a mark of quality for travelers and future partners. The ATTA can provide in-depth research on the full array of adventure travel activities as well as recommendations on how to customize and communicate to diverse audiences.

Past Representative Partner for this Service:

• Airbnb