Adventure travel “recovering strongly” in Asia-Pacific region, says ATTA

Adventure travel is “recovering strongly” in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region following the pandemic, says the Adventure Travel Trade Association (ATTA), sharing the results of a new survey.

ATTA’s 2024 “State of the Adventure Travel Industry Snapshot” gathered feedback from its community between March and May of this year, and the results reveal that the Asia-Pacific region’s adventure travel segment is doing well. 

In 2023, the average number of guests per operator with a headquartered country in Asia was 2,636, a strong upward trend from 2020-2022, and approaching the 2019 average number of 3,263, the survey shows.

Trip fill rates are also strong, with APAC’s 2023 62 per cent rate nearing the global 2023 average of 65 per cent.

The composition of guests for Asia-based tour operator guests has also seen a jump toward FITs, made up of families (26 per cent from 17 per cent in 2022) and couples (33 per cent from 20 per cent), while the percentage handling groups has decreased to 24 per cent from 2019’s 49 per cent.

All eyes on India

India has emerged as an important adventure travel source market over the past two years, with four per cent of responding tour operators naming it as their primary source of guests, making it the fifth largest source market, says ATTA.

While no APAC destinations were in the top seven host markets in this year’s research, Japan featured in fourth place in last year’s report, and this list tends to fluctuate due to short-term trends and responding operators.

This also aligns with Japan moving up to fourth place in the top five global travel markets, with travel contributing $297 billion to its economy in 2023.

Trending destinations

As with the primary host markets list, destinations become popular for different reasons.

North-East Asia climbed from 14 to four, influenced by the reopening of China in March 2023 and the depreciation of the Japanese yen vs the US Dollar. South-East Asia also saw upward movement, from ten to seven.

However, South Asia and Oceania both decreased in popularity in 2023 as an adventure travel destination.

“This could be due to a multitude of factors: higher airfares, a natural leveling-off from the post-COVID border reopening surge last year, or simply a swing in popular culture and consumer preferences,” says ATTA.

Trending activities

Hiking, trekking and walking is consistently the top adventure activity across the globe, and this year is no exception for both the APAC region and worldwide.

Cultural activities are also very popular in the APAC region, having seen strong growth since 2021, although this year it shares its popularity with other activities like camping and climbing, which are uniquely popular in the APAC region.

Culinary adventures trended downward for the APAC region (four) compared to worldwide (two), despite gastronomy being known as a popular reason to visit many APAC destinations.

“Japan in particular stands out as a destination that has seen a huge surge in popularity since it fully re-opened in Spring 2023,” stated ATTA member Matt Blench, Director of EXO Adventure, in a press release.

“Cycling and trekking tours are by far the two most popular adventure activities and demand is outstripping supply. Indonesia has exploded back onto the scene, especially as a trekking and climbing destination combined with camping. We’ve seen 100% growth in 2024 when compared to 2019.”

Sustainability a focus

Tour operators headquartered in the APAC region have also seen slightly more interest in sustainability certification than the rest of the world, with 57 per cent of APAC respondents holding or pursuing some kind of certification, compared to 51 per cent in other regions.

Future predictions

“Looking into 2025, I think we can expect to see hiking and cultural activities stay in the top five most popular adventure activities for APAC,” said Hannah Pearson, regional director APAC at ATTA.

 “I also expect to see Oceania trending as a destination once more, driven by a greater focus on adventure travel in general from the region. However, it will be interesting to watch if camping and climbing maintain their popularity, or if they are a flash in the pan for the region, being new entrants in 2024.”

 “We believe that there is so much potential in APAC as both an adventure travel destination and also source market,” Pearson added. “After last year’s Adventure Travel World Summit in Hokkaido, we are working closely with the Japan National Tourism Organisation to run our signature AdventureWeek in Okinawa, as well as with Tourism Fiji to hold AdventureNEXT in Fiji in November.”

“We’re excited to partner with ITB Asia in October for the third consecutive year to run an adventure travel-focused session during the show and bring the community together.”

ATTA will be holding an AdventureConnect gathering on the show floor of ITB Asia on October 24, 2024 from 3:30-6:00 pm at the Knowledge Theatre.

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