Where to begin with Industry Standards in Adventure Tourism. This topic started while I was working with a client, setting up new software.

I was trying to explain to the software company exactly what type of business my client had. There was some confusion in the terminology around what type of business it was. We quickly noticed the ‘what type of business’ question keeps coming up. As we watch the adventure travel space take on a new shape, I thought it would be interesting to review some of the existing and new terms, standards, and discuss upcoming standards to keep an eye on.   Let’s go!

Industry terminology 

There are many words for people and businesses who deliver adventure-type experiences. There are tour operators, wholesalers/DMC’s, travel designers/clubs, DMO’s and travel agents/advisors/planners. Those are sort of some of the big player terms that I see quite often in the space.

Let’s review each and see what if we can agree on the terms, shall we?

Tour Operator

A tour operator is a company that delivers experiences to groups of people. Maybe like a rafting company or a bike tour company. These companies usually hire their own guides, have a lot of gear/vehicles, and only operate in their local region. They usually do their own marketing and deliver directly to their own clients. 

DMC – Destination Management Companies

DMC’s are similar to tour operators but don’t do the marketing. These companies tend to partner with travel designers/agents/clubs to provide the ‘on the ground’ travel experience. There is often a white label relationship where they deliver under the brand of the travel designers/clubs. 

Travel Designers and Clubs

These are companies that use DMC’s or local tour operators to provide experiences to their clients. They work with local DMC’s to design custom itineraries and tour dates. Then they sell those custom itineraries and dates to their followers and members.  They usually provide select small group experiences and do not do any pre/post-travel arrangements or flight bookings, instead they partner with Travel Agents.

Travel Agents, Planners and Advisors

Travel agents, planners and advisors are the people with who travellers work directly to have them plan their travel logistics. These are the people who book flights, secure travel insurance, book hotels, and cruises. They support their clients through the entire travel planning process. 

DMO – Destination Marketing Organizations

DMO’s are usually a department of the government. Their role is to educate and market a particular destination to both travellers and other travel companies. These organizations often support the local DMC’s and tour operators through ongoing education or funding. 

Outfitters

One more word that goes here too is an outfitter. I had an interesting conversation with a colleague in the adventure industry not long ago and he kept saying outfitter. I had to ask for more information because I knew he worked with a lot of rafting companies. To me, an outfitter means fishing or hunting guides and lodges. It was interesting to hear another perspective of outfitter, meaning a totally different type of business.

Which term do you use to classify your business and why? Do you fit into more than one category?

What does industry-standard mean? 

After a quick Google search, (because that’s how I like to find lots of things) by definition, an industry-standard is “an established norm”. It’s usually the minimum requirement for any given industry. When we apply that definition to adventure tourism we think of basic criteria that are a norm such as first aid for a guide.

What are some existing industry standards in adventure tourism?

Guide Qualifications

In adventure tourism, there are a whole host of minimum certification requirements which are determined by the sport and the remoteness of the area.  Current industry standards for hard skills here in Canada are certifications like;

• Alberta’s Raft Guide License
• ACMG Hiking Guide Certification to guide hikes in the Rocky Mountain National Parks.
• SKGBC Sea kayak Guide Cert’s for kayak guides working in British Columbia.
• CSIA certifications for ski instructors at all ski resorts.
• Canadian Avalanche Association for avalanche management and training.
• Wilderness Medical Associates International for Wilderness First Responder.

The ATTA has done a wonderful job of compiling the standards for all guides on an international capacity in their International Adventure Travel Guide Qualification and Performance Standard. Whether you’re looking to hire new guides or considering some personal development, this is an excellent place to start.

Risk Management

Another minimum requirement for adventure businesses is having a risk management plan in place. A risk management plan is a post for another day, but having basic processes in place like screening clients into trips, clients being informed about risks via a waiver process, requiring the minimum certifications from guides, and maintaining current evacuation plans are all basic risk management norms. 

A risk management plan is often a very large, beefy document and pulls together all the different areas of your business and explains how the different elements of risk are being managed. From the risk management plan, you can take out little snippets when it’s suitable, for example, the hiring process when you are looking to screen new guides or when you decide to choose a new inbound tour operator for a travel designer business. 

You can use bits and pieces of the risk management plan in different parts of your business, but it does make it easier to have it in one cohesive, centralized place.

Insurance

Carrying commercial general liability insurance is also becoming more and more a minimum norm or industry standard. Past companies I worked for required a $1 million CGL policy to partner and copies of valid insurance had to be provided. 

Moving further into the digital age, adventure companies need to be considering Cyber Liability as well in both the insurance aspect and risk management and company policy aspect.

We also are requiring travellers to secure their own additional insurance to compensate them for cancelling or evacuation.

Health and safety

With Covid-19, brand new standards had to be created and implemented quickly. We saw excellent leadership in this minimum standard by the Adventure Travel Trade Association with their prompt creation of Covid Health & Safety guidelines and the logo to assure travellers of these minimum health standards.

Human Resources 

HR norms are things like employee agreements, payroll, paying people on time, having WorkSafe BC, workers comp set up in your business, as well as the liability insurance depending on the scale and business requirements.  This is by no means an exhaustive list of the minimum requirements to have your adventure business but I hope it gives you a basis for moving in the right direction. There’s always room to shift your business into being more aligned or even exceeding these base-level standards. It is the mind-shift across the industry right now that we are professionals and to secure this image in the eyes of the general public.

Gear Maintenance

This doesn’t apply to every business but having gear maintenance routines, retirement practices, and policies around the use of gear are where we see these industry standards really coming to life within your business. Even if you don’t own gear, you should have some screening mechanisms in place to ensure your partners ARE doing these routine inspections so your clients are safe while on a trip.

Membership in Professional Organizations

I found it to be very helpful and I think I won’t be the only person resonating with this. Maintaining a membership status within an industry organization helped greatly. This could be a governing body or certifying body like Paddle Canada, or a broader organization like your local DMO (Destination BC) or global organizations like the Adventure Travel and Trade Association.

There were two that I decided to join to help put PeakFlow OBM on the map;

•  Adventure Travel and Trade Association. It has been super helpful over the last year and they have done an incredible job of getting together a bunch, different templates.
• International Association of Online Business Managers. This organization is the governing body in the OBM space and it was important to me to get certified. I get regular training about online best practices from around the world and also get access to support if I need help.

New & Upcoming Industry Standards

Tech Solutions and Cybersecurity

Ok, so we’ve talked quite a bit about existing norms, but have you put any cybersecurity practices in place?

Fun fact, – Did you know that it’s actually more secure to keep all of your files in a file storage system like Google Drive than it is to keep it on your computer hard drive?

I sat in on an insurance talk with the ATTA where they shared some great cyber tips. Your adventure business is now an online business and it’s vital your company’s data is secure and that you have cyber insurance in case of a breach.

Digital Marketing 

I’m sure you’ve all felt the pressure to adapt to get on social media, start a blog, start a YouTube channel, host a Pinterest board AND be on tik tok. Let me just say – focus on what WORKS for your business. 

There’s a lot of shiny object syndrome going on so let me clarify this: You DO NOT have to do it all (and we can help!). Find out where your clients are, which platform do they default to dream of, or get information from about travel and just show up there. Be consistent and that will yield you higher quality results.

We’ve seen this huge climb in your online presence and it has to be this and it has to be that. But what are the actual minimum requirements for your business in regards to an adventure business? I personally recommend showing up on two social media platforms and then producing content on either a blog or a youtube channel.

Keeping up with industry standards or learning the new lingo doesn’t have to be difficult. People like me are here to help you every step of the way! If you need help figuring out what more you could be doing then an easy way for you to stay current is to listen to my weekly sessions where we talk about things in the industry. I’d love to have you join us!

Join the Conversation

We would love for you to join our Business of Adventure Facebook group. This is a collaborative space for business owners or freelancers in the adventure travel and tourism space. The focus here is to share best practices and tips about online presence and digital marketing (front end) and online systems (backend) so you can establish a rock-solid foundation for your adventure business. If this is something you could benefit from, please join!