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Adventure Tourism
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Adventure Tourism Course Blog |
- Adventure tourism is a type of niche tourism involving exploration or travel to remote areas, where the traveler should expect the unexpected. Adventure tourism is rapidly growing in popularity as tourists seek unusual holidays, different from the typical beach vacation. Mountaineering expeditions, trekking, bungee jumping, rafting and rock climbing are frequently cited as an examples of adventure tourism. Wikipedia 2008
This course will help you to gain relevant experience in the adventure tourism industry that will enable you to design, and guide visitors through a safe, environmentally sustainable and enjoyable adventure tourism activity.
Learning Objectives
1. Be able to safely guide visitors through an adventure tourism activity that is longer than one day
2. Design and deliver an appropriate interpretation plan for the tour
3. Have experienced a range of adventure tourism activities on offer to tourists in New Zealand
Course Schedule
Following is a list of topics we will work through in this course. Each topic has a general introduction, followed by a list of activities to work through, and finally a list of links and resources you might use to work through the activities.
Otago Polytechnic's course weblog will pace you through these topics and put you in touch with teachers, other students and a range of other media and information. Use this schedule as a way to look ahead and prepare in the course.
Orientation and introductions
- Our first topic is to get to know the course, and the people involved in it. If you get lost later in the course, come back to this topic and use the activities to re orientate yourself to things. If you are still lost of confused, make contact with teachers or other students via the course weblog.
To do
1. Download the course calender and save it in your diaries.
2. Attend the first class meeting 21 July in H516 at Otago Polytechnic
Guided tour of more than one day
Our aim is to provide you the student with the relevant skills to design and guide visitors through, a safe, environmentally sustainable and enjoyable guided tour of more than one day.
Kia ora and welcome to what we hope will be a challenging and exciting experience for you. The course will take you from the classroom into the real world of adventure tourism (in this case Wanaka) where you will gain the skills to research, develop and deliver an overnight adventure tour experience.
You will also have the opportunity to improve your fitness base and try some outdoor pursuits.
The first requirement for you in this course is to understand the components which make up a tour of longer than a day. Here is an overview of your assessment task. What we can do now is design a model by which you can map your research; your audience, the possible choices of accommodation, dining, activities, ideas for your interpretation, and when and how this will be completed. This model will help you determine what will be in your completed itinerary. Just to make sure you have a good understanding of your task we have split the activities between the subject eg. Audience Profile, accommodatin, dining and itinerary - this will be facilitated.
Leadership
Leader or manager - there is a distinction between the two, however many positions/situations within the tourism industry require a person to be both.
What are the skills and qualities required of a tour guide?
Guiding Interpretation
Interpretaion is a communication process, designed to reveal meanings and relationships of our cultural and natural heritage, through involvement with objects, artificats, landscapes and sites." - Interpretation Canada.
Lets renew or refresh your understanding of what is interpretation. Interpretation as stated is not just about presenting factual information but rather a specific strategy used to translate information for people. Taking the technical and transforming it into everyday language, whilst keeping your audience entertained - and yourself for that matter.
There are six principles of interpretation which we will look at and refer to them as the goals of interpretation - because we do want to achieve something....we shall answer that; what did we hope to achieve at the end of the course. In the meantime we should come to understand the first principle regarding your audience.
Environmental interpretation is an important tool in encouraging environmental and sustainable practice from both guests, on the tour and the community where the site is situated. An informed and caring public will not harm a site by littering or vandalism. They often become an advocate for the site supporting local groups when development is threatened.
Today we will look at interpretation of the site - but from an international and somewhat more urban perspective. We will ensure our interpretation is relevant to the audience we are directing it to.
Finding your own style! Much can be learnt by watching other guides deliver their interpretations. From those who inform us about the natural environment - Akaak Falls, Hawaii. To the costumed interpretation which in this case emphasises theme. Architectual or religious information/interpretationprovided to visitors with a particular interest in the subject and the questions that flow on from that. We have discused the use of humour guide singingin the first session. There are some rules around its use that should be remembered.
1. Only use humour to illustrate a point - not just to get a laugh
2. Make sure it is inoffensive and your audience can identify with it - don't embarras your audience
3. It should be unannounced - good humour just drifts in
4. Make sure you are comfortable using it - good timing and delivery is essential
The interpretation presented by an experienced guide cannot be expected to be duplicated with the same ease as a guide just starting out. Its all about being yourself, letting your personality shine through and of course enjoy what you are doing.
Choosing a theme - all interpretations are based around a theme or message/s. Its like the plot to a story and it must be uppermost in your mind as you plan your interpretation. Your topic will start as a broad subject and then be narrowed down to a sentence which reflects the essence of what you want to talk about and what kind of message you want to convey.
To assist this these are certain questions you should ask from - does the theme tell an important story and can your visitor/client identify your theme from your interpretation.
Once you have the theme its time to turn your attention to researching. The first step will be brainstorming and clustering. Before you do this however its back to assessing your audience. The better you know your audience the better you can prepare your interpretation. Take a look at the summary of what visitors like: sensory involvement, humour, new information made understandable, and an enthusiastic interpreter.
They do not like: dry lectures, an interpreter that talks too much, an interpretation that is too technical, long and unenthusiastic presentation.
Speaking of which, this weeks episode of The Apprentice - yes, Donald of the bad hair - was shot in LA and had the losing team split up and compete against each other to design a guided tour for one of the local companies "Starlite". The winning team chose a theme (they had a subject - LA tour) and went to work planning. The losing team couldn't decide on a theme and when they finally did it was so late they didn't get any sleep - the result a pretty bad tour rated at 52% by those taking part compared to 82% for the winning team. It just so happened that part of the successful tour was filmed and put on YOUtube by someone taking part in the tour - its worth a look.
We will be looking at a your interpretations this week - and visiting the site to do this. Hopefully this will assist in creating more authenticity to your commentary.
We have had two trips to the Bracken lookout and Northern cemetary with students presenting some good interpretations. Hopefully you have gained further insight in how to deliver and plan an interpretation and the importance of comprehensive research - if you don't know the information this will reflect in your delivery.
Attractions and Activities
On this course we would like to take you on a journey which shows not only the wonderful tourism attractions and activities available for visitors to New Zealand (in particular the South Island or Te Wai Ponamu) but also lets you experience a variety of them.
Visitor Attractions
Attractions are one of the key components of the tourism industry adding to the appeal of and often the major reason for visiting the destination. They are very difficult to categorise and definitions differ throughout the world. However, it is important for research and statistics to be able to divide the types of attractions under certain headings. Using the information provided by the Tourism New Zealand website, categorise the lists of New Zealand activities and attractions
Audience Profile
The most important aspect when designing a tour is to consider your audience and their needs and wants. You will be assigned a target audience for your tour and your first job is to establish a profile and a list of possible activities this group might enjoy. In a real life situation prior to a tour, you may have your guests complete a Client Questionnaire. This is a useful way to begin ascertaining a picture of who your guests are and what they want.
Once you have a clearer understanding of your audience you can start matching activities and attractions to what you believe their needs and wants will be. The better you do this the more enjoyable your tour will be and the successful the tour guiding business will become.
Guest's Needs
- Itinerary - your itinerary for the tour has to be comprehensive so your clients are aware of when and where they should be for each attraction and include information about the activity, where they are staying and how they are being transported.
You must also prepare a cost for the holiday you have planned for your target audience ensuring your company is making a profit.
- Accommodation - What kind of accommodation is going to suit your audience?
- Food - Your guests may have particular needs when it comes to food choice or dining needs. You will be planning the meal requirements for their 3 day/2 night tour which will include 2 breakfasts, 3 lunches and 2 dinners. One of the dinner menus will be prepared and served to your group while on your field trip to Wanaka.
Identify and utilise information and communication technology for tour guiding
Resources and Activities
