Traveller’s Attitudes
A recent survey has shown a small but significant shift in attitudes to travel and holidays. A few years ago the reasons given for travelling were usually along the lines of “personal challenge” and “so that I can impress my friends”. This is now more likely to be “to enrich my life” or “to give something back”. The main reason for this shift seems to be an increasing awareness of environmental damage and global warming, leading to a greater sense of community. The recent global financial meltdown has also played a part. Hopefully this is a sign of the end of the “grab it for me” attitude of the last decade.
These results do not come from a lightweight survey. The result came from 256 travel companies in 51 countries representing 10 million travellers. This is one of the issues we are discussing here at the Adventure Travel Summit in Brazil. I was invited as a tour operator by the Brazilian Tourist Board as part of their programme to develop tourism in Brazil. There are huge opportunities for interesting and rewarding trips here, and you’ll see some of them on a new Brazil page which will be added to our website soon.
Friday, 25 September 2009
Thursday, 26 March 2009
Kilimanjaro
I’m Roger Gook and this blog will be a continuing reflection on what’s happening in the world of travel, and in particular, adventure travel.
As one of the main suppliers of trips to climb Kilimanjaro, we have been very busy because of the publicity around the Red Nose charity climb. Many of you will have seen some of this on TV, and whatever you thought about it, raising over a million pounds was a fantastic achievement.
At Footloose we always have mixed feelings about this sort of publicity. We certainly benefit from it and so it would be hypocritical to knock it too much. Seeing averagely fit people getting to the top helps us sell the trip to inexperienced walkers, and seeing the great time they had with the porters and guides showed something about the experience that’s hard to explain. The sense of achievement when they got to top can be understood by anyone who has faced a challenge.
Our discomfort with it was around how it was shown as a personal challenge for some very big egos, and this reflects the way the trip is often seen. The whole point of the climb being an interesting, rewarding and beautiful mountain walk gets lost. The average mountain walker gets to the top with some puffing and blowing, but no great drama – and doesn’t get to meet Gordon Brown.
We sell the trip as a mountain walk, not a personal challenge, and always ask people what experience they have. We suggest getting fit, not by a few gym sessions with Lewis Hamilton, but by doing some long walks in the Lakes or Wales. And 95% get to the top and have a great trip.
So let’s hear it a bit more for the mountains - and not for the egos!
As one of the main suppliers of trips to climb Kilimanjaro, we have been very busy because of the publicity around the Red Nose charity climb. Many of you will have seen some of this on TV, and whatever you thought about it, raising over a million pounds was a fantastic achievement.
At Footloose we always have mixed feelings about this sort of publicity. We certainly benefit from it and so it would be hypocritical to knock it too much. Seeing averagely fit people getting to the top helps us sell the trip to inexperienced walkers, and seeing the great time they had with the porters and guides showed something about the experience that’s hard to explain. The sense of achievement when they got to top can be understood by anyone who has faced a challenge.
Our discomfort with it was around how it was shown as a personal challenge for some very big egos, and this reflects the way the trip is often seen. The whole point of the climb being an interesting, rewarding and beautiful mountain walk gets lost. The average mountain walker gets to the top with some puffing and blowing, but no great drama – and doesn’t get to meet Gordon Brown.
We sell the trip as a mountain walk, not a personal challenge, and always ask people what experience they have. We suggest getting fit, not by a few gym sessions with Lewis Hamilton, but by doing some long walks in the Lakes or Wales. And 95% get to the top and have a great trip.
So let’s hear it a bit more for the mountains - and not for the egos!
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