There is a reason why it’s called “adventure travel:” It has risks, too
Photo Credit: Panorama over Cardiff in Wales. Flickr.com / Michael J. Slezak
Skift Take
Things that make your adrenaline racing have some amount of risk built in, including a seemingly sleepy activity like hot-air balloon riding, especially in a turmoil-laden area like Egypt these days. That said, adventure travel is on a growth curve as people search for deeper experiences.
When Carole Rosenblat was growing up in the 1970s, her parents' idea of an adventurous vacation was "driving cross-country from Michigan to California in a non-air-conditioned car with three kids."
Her idea of adventure is a little different: "Jumping out of planes — things like that. Parasailing, hot-air ballooning. These things make you know you're alive!"
And the balloon accident in Egypt that killed 19 people Tuesday is not likely to deter her from future adventures. "It does not give me pause at all," said Rosenblat, a freelance writer and occasional tour guide based in Gilbert, Ariz.
Rosenblat's attitude is part of what's fueling worldwide growth in adventure travel. It's an $89 billion industry, according to the Adventure Travel Trade Association, and it has grown 17 percent in each of the past two years, according to the association's president, Shannon Stowell. That's four times the rate of the overall tourism industry, which grew about 4.6 percent in 2011.
But w
