ConnecTALKS: Adventure
EXPLORING THE TRUE MEANING OF ADVENTURE WITH
National Geographic Traveller UK J
At this year’s Connections Adventure – hosted in ‘the Hawaii of the Atlantic’ – Matthew Jackson led a discussion about luxury and adventure travel. Can the two truly go hand-in-hand?
ust as luxury means different things to different people, so does adventure. One person’s concept of peril is another person’s walk in the park (or the jungle...)
According to the Intrepid Travel’s Adventure Index 2019 – which explores how Brits define adventure travel – just 35% of respondents subscribe to a traditional notion of adventure travel (that it needs to be high-adrenaline with off-the-beaten-track experiences). For the remaining 65%, adventure has a much milder definition. “For some people it could be a couple of hours in Bethnal Green,” said Philippe Brown, founder of Brown + Hudson. “For someone else, it could be climbing in Kabul. I definitely think there needs to be some boundary-pushing and a sense of accomplishment and change.” Brown touched upon his intriguing process of using psychologists and science-based methods when profiling clients to gain the most intuitive basis for trip planning – and therefore gauging their personal boundaries for adventure. James Pearson from Once Upon a Climb said that he struggled to reconcile certain aspects of luxury with adventure, emphasising that it should be about more than money. “I don’t know whether adventure is something that can be purchased,” he said. “I think it’s something that has to be experienced and lived through. That doesn’t mean it shouldn’t cost a lot of money – these things take time and effort to organise. What I wouldn’t like to see is adventure
being summarised as this Instagram hot-shot culture where we take somebody somewhere, they take a photo for Instagram and it’s done.” During the session, suppliers expressed a strong sense
of duty to protect the destinations and environments they represented, and buyers recognised the important role they have in educating their clients about the impact of their travel. There was agreement that luxury travellers seeking adventure should have their expectations managed from the start – for example, that flashing cash won’t always make it happen. The Azores is a perfect example. A delicate ecosystem and natural landscape that needs to be fiercely protected should not prevent high-end travellers from experiencing adventure. It simply means these clients should not expect to replicate the five-star experience they are accustomed to elsewhere – or expect to do everything on their own terms. “We have two simple rules: you respect the Azores, and you respect the Azoreans,” said Carlos Picanço from Futurismo Azores Adventures. “We don’t care how much money you have, those are our two rules that we won’t break for anything. And people do respond well to this. We don’t have king-size beds, for example, we have Azorean beds. Adventure is about trying something different from what you have, and the Azores are brilliant for this.” He added: “We had royalty visit here about two months
22 December 2019
weareconnections.com
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