literature review on adventure tourism

Exploring the Role of Technology in Adventure Tourism

• Conference paper
• First Online: 30 May 2023
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• Tatiana Chalkidou 2 &
• George Skourtis 2  

Part of the book series: Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics ((SPBE))

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• International Conference of the International Association of Cultural and Digital Tourism

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Adventure tourism has seen a recent surge in popularity, as people are increasingly looking for fear and thrills (Cater, Tour Manage 27:317–325, 2006) and unique and adrenaline-rushing experiences (Pomfret and Bramwell, Current Issues Tour 19:1447–1478, 2014). However, compared to several other specialized tourism studies, the research in this sector has been limited (Buckley, Tour Manage 33:961–970, 2012), while the role of technology in adventure tourism management is still in its infancy, although it is considered one of the most rapidly expanding sectors and a significant part of the tourism industry. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to theoretically discuss how the adventure tourism industry is implementing and managing technology, addressing the changes that technology has brought, and identifying the opportunities that can be exploited. In order to better understand the role of technology in adventure tourism management, we suggest the adoption of service-dominant logic and its ecosystem perspective (Vargo and Lusch, J Acad Market Sci 36:1–10, 2008). More specifically, we propose a transition of adventure tourism management from the perspective of S-D logic, reconsidering the conclusions that have been drawn from traditional perspectives (G-D logic). Importantly, a service-ecosystems view broadens the scope of adventure tourism management and enables researchers and practitioners to zoom out beyond dyadic exchange encounters and to view technology as a necessary resource for value co-creation. To the best of our knowledge, this paper is the first which challenges adventure management literature by adopting an S-D logic perspective.

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Tatiana Chalkidou & George Skourtis

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Chalkidou, T., Skourtis, G. (2023). Exploring the Role of Technology in Adventure Tourism. In: Katsoni, V. (eds) Tourism, Travel, and Hospitality in a Smart and Sustainable World. IACuDiT 2022. Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26829-8_17

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adventure tourism literature review

This paper provides a review of current literature in regard to defining adventure tourism. Adventure tourism is a substantial industry sector which to date has received relatively little research attention.

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Tourism research can gain broader academic recognition if findings from tourism research become relevant to, and cited within, other academic disciplines. Adventure tourism can provide opportunities for ground breaking research on wide-ranging issues such as: motivations for human mobility; individual economic valuation of high-rarity, low-probability experiences; volunteer assumption of physical personal risk, and its legal consequences; positive and negative effects of tourism on conservation; psychological models of human emotions; the anthropology of interactions between highly disparate human cultures; the use of autoethnography as a research tool; construction of social capital and cohesion; altruistic or competitive behaviour under severe stress; the design of communications systems; establishment and operation of human relationships involving extreme personality types; the physiology of acute stress; and human perceptions of risk and emotion, the passage of time, and the purpose of life. From an academic perspective, adventure tourism is much more than simply a substantial subsector of the mass tourism industry. It is an opportunity to conduct more widely relevant and recognized research, publishable in tourism journals yet also citeable in other disciplines. Keywords: adventure tourism experiences; research tool; cross- disciplinary research.

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This article provides an objective, systematic, and integrated review of the Western academic literature on adventure tourism to discover the theoretical foundations and key themes underlying the field by combining three complementary approaches of bibliometric analysis, content analysis, and a quantitative systematic review. A total of 114 publications on adventure tourism were identified that revealed three broad areas of foci with adventure tourism research: (1) adventure tourism experience, (2) destination planning and development, and (3) adventure tourism operators. Adventure tourism has an intellectual tradition from multiple disciplines, such as the social psychology of sport and recreation. There is an underrepresentation of studies examining non-Western tourists in their own geographic contexts or non-Western tourists in Western geographic contexts. Our findings pave ways for developing a more robust framework and holistic understanding of the adventure tourism field.

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Growing demand for and supply of adventure tourism activities, particularly packaged adventure holidays, means there is a need to understand adventure tourists. At the start of my research journey, the embryonic nature of adventure tourism research and the limited extant literature about adventure tourists provided the impetus to develop understanding of these tourists as a unique group of adventurers. Accordingly, the aim of this programme of research is to demonstrate the empirical and conceptual contributions that my published works make to the knowledge and understanding of adventure tourism participation and consumption. My research ethos reflects an interpretivist approach and my empirical publications predominantly report on qualitative data drawn from interviews and surveys with adventure tourists. The research contribution is achieved through two Focal Concepts. Firstly, adventure tourism participation, i.e.: the different elements which influence tourists to take adventure...

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Tourism Review

ISSN : 1660-5373

Article publication date: 9 October 2019

Issue publication date: 20 February 2020

This paper aims to demonstrate the importance of adventure tourism in tourism the tourism industry and in tourism research. Apart from giving an overview of current literature and discussion, this paper also looks into future trends in adventure tourism.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper looks at the state of the art of adventure tourism re-search and discusses current trends. Based on literature, it gives an overview of the development of adventure tourism, the current situation and how adventure tourism will develop in the future.

This paper discusses the development of research in the field of adventure tourism and propagates that research should be increasingly focussing on theory building. The work by Rantala and Rokenses (2016) was the much-needed kick-start to lay the groundwork for a theoretical framework. The last few years have seen a rise in older tourists embarking for adventure trips, as well as families. Younger adults seek microadventures nearby their home. Health and well-being have also seen a stronger focus in adventure tourism research. Interdisciplinary research teams should see into these phenomenon and analyse the different motives and implications. This will help to develop a framework for adventure tourism research.

Originality/value

The importance of adventure tourism in the tourism industry and science will be demonstrated, and for the first time, the scientific examination of adventure tourism will be presented with three phases and important publications. In addition, the importance of theory formation in the field of adventure tourism will be pointed out. This paper not only gives an overview of current research but also looks ahead into future developments.

• Adventure tourism
• Adventure tourism research
• Hard and soft adventure

Gross, S. and Sand, M. (2020), "Adventure tourism: a perspective paper", Tourism Review , Vol. 75 No. 1, pp. 153-157. https://doi.org/10.1108/TR-06-2019-0211

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