Adventure travel is a type of tourism, involving exploration or travel with perceived (and possibly actual) risk, and potentially requiring specialized skills and physical exertion. Adventure tourism is rapidly growing in popularity, as tourists seek different kinds of vacations. According to the U.S. based Adventure Travel Trade Association, adventure travel may be any tourist activity, including two of the following three components: a physical activity, a cultural exchange or interaction and engagement with nature.
Adventure tourists may be motivated to achieve mental states characterized as rush or flow,[1]resulting from stepping outside of their comfort zone. This may be from experiencing culture shockor through the performance of acts, that require significant effort and involve some degree of risk (real or perceived) and/or physical danger (See extreme sports). This may include activities such as mountaineering, trekking, bungee jumping, mountain biking, canoeing, rafting, zip-lining,paragliding, and rock climbing. Some obscure forms of adventure travel include disaster andghetto tourism.[2] Other rising forms of adventure travel include social and jungle tourism.
Access to inexpensive consumer technology, with respect to Global Positioning Systems,flashpacking, social networking and photography, have increased the worldwide interest in adventure travel.[3][4] The interest in independent adventure travel has also increased as more specialist travel websites emerge offering previously niche locations and sports.
