Last month’s Adventure Travel World Summit (ATWS) events in São Paulo, Brazil attracted more than 700 representatives from 33 countries. Organised by the Adventure Travel Trade Association (ATTA), the Summit was its first ever outside of North America.
Growing interest in this sector was recorded. Leaders in adventure travel from South America introduced the Adventure Tourism Development Index (ATDI) which supports responsible and sustainable development of emerging adventure travel destinations worldwide. It also heightened awareness of accessibility issues for handicapped adventure travellers and for community based tourism initiatives.
The Summit also increased industry attention onto safety management and guide training to improve the professionalism of operators worldwide.
One of the immediate outcomes of the South American gathering was the formation of a new Spanish and Portuguese speaking network of adventure and eco-travel trade associations which will collaborate to heighten the global profile of adventure travel in South and Central America. The initiative is expected to serve as a continental model to more fully network the adventure travel trade worldwide.
Luis Baretto, Brazil’s minister of Tourism, was among the featured speakers at the opening ceremony on Thursday. “This is the beginning of a new phase in Brazilian tourism and the Adventure Travel World Summit has contributed to this phase. Our adventure travel tourism will greatly benefit from the collaboration between tour operators, international media, and global tourism boards,” he said.