Studies & Degrees in Adventure Tourism

Choose where you would like to study Adventure Tourism:

One of the fastest growing industries to date is what media has dubbed as Adventure Tourism. Because of the undeniable money this industry has brought in and the potential it could do to a country’s economy, universities and colleges all over the world have made this niche industry into a whole new area of study. Not only does it bring in wealth to a country or business enterprises, it also foster appreciation towards the preservation of the environment. On a broad spectrum, the course is designed on environmental preservation and the safety considerations of visiting tourists. Both environmental preservation and safety of those who will go visit the adventure tourism sites are vital cogs for the sustainability of these adventure sites as neglect on either one aspect will definitely lead to bad publicity. In the field of tourism, one bad publicity is enough to collapse an adventure tourism business as either from tourists will dwindle down eventually or the government who has jurisdiction will close it down.

Usually, the most popular adventure tourism spots have panoramic views about them and developers of these sites just incorporate activities that could be adventurous like a long zip line, bungee jumping stations or zoos where people could go near wild animals, to name a few. The usual formula here is to have visitors get their dose of adrenalin rush while enjoying the spectacular splendor of nature. Like in the case of Niagara Falls, before people would just go there to have a wonderful view of perhaps the grandest waterfalls in all of the planet but now people go there also to go bungee jumping. However, it is not as easy as just putting a rope on one’s foot and then plunging into the abyss but structures are needed to be put up first that would have to pass safety standards so that no mishaps would occur and then maintained, and that the structures to be built should not damage or change the landscape in any way over imposing the panorama.

Aside from the environmental and safety aspects that comprise an adventure tourism course, students of this course should also have above average physical conditioning and an extra amount of courage as it is a prerequisite of the program that students to have a certain number of hours on adventure activities like wild river rafting, survival camps, mountaineering, scuba diving and the likes. Since this is also going to be a business venture, business management and risk management are sure to be included in the program along with environmental management, client service and care, leadership development, weather forecasting and other subjects pertaining to survival and emergency skills development like map/compass reading and disaster preparation.

Graduates of this course can look forward to a number of options as career path as this is a course where anything goes. Those with enough financing can always become managers of their own resorts or hotels that cater to adventure tourists or they could be instructors and guides of ocean kayakers, mountain hikers, wild river rafters or they could become outdoor camp coordinators. Some graduates have become individual trainers, event and tour planners, winter sports instructors and heritage interpreters. So there are actually a lot of options depending on one’s adventure inclination.

Stand alone this course could be a good diploma course for the adventurous at heart as it seems the trend now shows that this is where the money is flowing in the tourism industry. This course could also be a good complement to conservationist people like zoologist, marine biologists, environmental and safety engineers.