An Exploration Of Adventure Tourism Participation And .

2. To evaluate the roles of adventure tourist characteristics, motivational decisions, riskperceptions, flow as a motivation for continued participation in adventure tourism,and the lifestyles of adventure tourists in adventure tourism participation.3. To appraise the emotional journeys which adventure tourists experience duringadventure tourism consumption, the benefits of adventure tourism consumption andthe influences on adventure tourism experiences.4. To assess my contribution to the knowledge and understanding of adventure tourismparticipation and consumption and the future direction of my research.1.2.Focal Concepts of the programme of researchMy research contributes both empirically and conceptually to an enhancedunderstanding of the psychological aspects of adventure tourism participation andconsumption through two Focal Concepts (FCs):1.2.1. Focal Concept 1: Adventure tourism participationWithin this critical appraisal, the term adventure tourism participation refers to thedifferent elements which influence tourists to take adventure holidays in the first place.Adventure tourists have distinctive characteristics, relative to their demographic profiles,activity preferences and travel behaviours, and these influence their decision to participatein adventure tourism. Other key elements which encourage participation are theirmotivational decisions, risk perceptions, flow as a motivation for continued participation inadventure tourism, and the lifestyles of adventure tourists. Flow is ‘the state in whichpeople are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience itselfis so enjoyable that people will do it at great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it’(Csikzentmihalyi, 1992, p.4). Several of my published works refer to adventure tourismparticipation and I use the word participation as it is a commonly used and accepted term inthe field of tourism studies. My publications are some of the first academic studies todevelop new thinking relative to key influences which drive package tourists andindependent tourists to participate in adventure tourism. They fuse together literatureabout recreational adventurers and adventure tourists, and report on notable fieldworkfindings concerned with participation influences.1.2.2 Focal Concept 2: Adventure tourism consumptionAdventure tourism consumption refers to tourists’ experiences of actually consumingadventure activities while on holiday, and the benefits gained from these experiences.Adventure is often all-consuming and challenging and this means it can prompt diverse andconflicting emotions, ranging from feelings of fear and risk to deep satisfaction and elation(Swarbrooke, Beard, Leckie & Pomfret, 2003). Accordingly, my work explores the emotionaljourneys which adventure tourists experience during adventure tourism consumption. Italso examines the benefits of adventure tourism consumption and the influences onadventure tourism experiences. My publications are some of the foremost studies todevelop understanding of adventure tourism consumption. They progress the literaturefrom focusing previously on recreational adventure consumption to package adventure7

tourism consumption. My published works do not specifically refer to the term adventuretourism consumption yet I believe that this phrase succinctly reflects the nature of myresearch about adventure tourism experiences.My work delineates the different aforementioned elements of adventure tourismparticipation and consumption, and provides new insights into adventure tourists. Table 1(Section 2) shows how each publication addresses the two Focal Concepts. These FocalConcepts and their unique contributions to knowledge will be discussed in more depth inSection 4.The following discussion briefly defines adventure tourism and adventure touristsprimarily to provide context to my research and to highlight the complex and diverse natureof this type of tourism and its participants. Adventure tourism and adventure tourists aremultifaceted and problematic to define as there are divergent perspectives, activities andparticipants. Firstly, adventure tourism comprises a broad range of land-, air- and waterbased activities which can be short, adrenalin-fuelled encounters such as wind-surfing andbungee jumping, or longer experiences such as mountaineering and cruise expeditions (CIIT2014). The disparate nature of these activities can result in widely varying experiences foreach individual adventure tourist. Secondly, and related to this, ‘adventure’ is a highlysubjective concept which individuals perceive in different ways so, while one tourist mayexperience adventure activity participation as ‘adventurous’, another may not (Weber,2001). People’s perceptions of adventure are influenced by personality, lifestyle, and levelof skill and experience (1989; Priest, 1999). Thirdly, adventure tourism sharescommonalities with other types of tourism, such as activity tourism, volunteer tourism andecotourism, making it problematic to clearly delineate adventure tourism activities(Swarbrooke, Beard, Leckie & Pomfret, 2003). Fourthly, adventure tourism participation andconsumption are thought to involve challenge, risk, uncertain outcomes, insight, excitement,stimulation, novelty, discovery and exploration, contrasting emotions, separation andescapism, focus and absorption, responsibility, commitment, anticipated rewards and play(Cater, 2006; Ewert, 1989; Swarbrooke et al, 2003; Walle, 1997). Yet, there is a lack ofconsensus about whether adventure tourists who are on commercially organised andguided adventure holidays experience these different elements during activity participation,and if so, to what extent. Fifthly, and related to this, there are two broad categories ofadventure tourist: those who go on tightly organised, packaged and guided skills-basedcourses and holidays - known as ‘package adventure tourists’ - and those who organise andmanage their own adventure holidays, sometimes using guiding services to help themachieve their goals – known as ‘independent adventure tourists’ (TM 2011). It is thoughtthat each of these categories of adventure tourist share some similarities yet they are alsodifferent.The use of language to delineate and understand adventure tourism and adventuretourists has evolved over time alongside the development of literature in this field.Accordingly, my publications reflect these terminology changes and I use differentexpressions to explicate adventure tourists and demarcate them from recreationaladventurers and other tourist types. My early work is strongly influenced by literaturewithin the fields of outdoor recreation and sport psychology. I utilise terms such as'recreational adventurers', 'risky sports participants', 'risk recreationists' and 'sensationseekers' (Ewert, 1989; Robinson, 1992; Zuckerman, 1979) to describe adventure tourists. I8

focus on sport-related forms of adventure tourism in several publications (AT 2003a; AT2003b; TM 2006), reflecting traditional notions of adventure drawn from theaforementioned fields of literature. For instance, in AT 2003a, I explore adventure touristswho partake in physical forms of adventure tourism in outdoor natural environments. Icontinue to be inspired by these original connotations of adventure in my later publications(TM 2011; TMP 2012; MT 2015), within which mountaineering tourism, an unequivocaladventure activity, is pivotal. Concurrently, my work also reflects the multidimensionalnature of adventure tourism. For example, I denote ecotourists, wildlife tourists and charitychallenge tourists as adventure tourists in AT 2003a, and I allude to volunteer tourists asadventure tourists in AT 2003b and JOE 2007. I also utilise the phrase ‘outdoor adventuretourist’ in CIIT 2014 to acknowledge that there are different types of adventure tourist.Furthermore, I have developed the terms ‘package adventure tourist’ and ‘independentadventure tourist’ to define different types of adventure tourist. I employ these phrases inTM 2011 and TMP 2012.The embryonic nature of adventure tourism research, combined with my personalinterest in adventure activities, inspired me to further investigate participation andconsumption amongst adventure tourists. I was also driven by a desire to enhanceunderstanding of adventure tourism participation and consumption to assist scholars,practitioners and students. From a scholarly perspective, I was keen to develop cuttingedge research about adventure tourists and to set them apart from their recreationalcounterparts as a distinct group of adventurers with discrete participation and consumptionbehaviours. I wanted to publish research which was accessible and useful to students ontourism, recreation and sport undergraduate and postgraduate degrees which includeadventure-related modules. Given the dramatic growth in the demand and supply ofadventure tourism, I was keen to offer the industry insights into who adventure tourists are,what drives their participation in adventure holidays and what their experiences ofadventure activities are. Like many other special interest forms of tourism, adventuretourism has become increasingly commercialised (Buckley, 2007) and developed in such away as to appeal to a wide range of mainstream tourists (TM 2011). It is important,therefore, for adventure organisations to understand their tourists so that they can‘carefully match up their clients’ skill and experience levels, and also their expectations, witha holiday that is sufficiently, but not overly, challenging’ (TMP 2012, p.153). In particular,the publications which reflect my primary research findings (TM 2011; TMP 2012; CIIT 2014)provide a comprehensive appreciation of adventure tourism participation and consumptionto assist organisations in developing fulfilling adventure holidays for tourists.When I initially began to explore adventure tourists to write my first publications inthis area (AT 2003a; AT 2003b; AT 2003c; TM 2006), I found that the literature wasfragmented and there were very few studies which recognised adventure tourists as aunique group of adventurers. Yet, the adventure tourism industry was experiencingconsiderable growth around this time, particularly in the provision of packaged adventureholidays which catered for a diverse range of adventure tourists, and the demand for suchexperiences was rising. Recent industry reports suggest that this strong growth continues(Adventure Travel Trade Association [ATTA], 2016; Outdoor Foundation, 2016). I noted that‘while there is a dearth of research tha

Adventure tourism consumption refers to tourists experiences of actually consuming adventure activities while on holiday, and the benefits gained from these experiences. Adventure is often all-consuming and challenging and this means it can prompt diverse and conflicting emotions, ranging from feelings of fear and risk to deep satisfaction and elation (Swarbrooke, Beard, Leckie & Pomfret, 2003 .