Switzerland has long been on my bucket list. The Alps, the quaint countryside, the chocolate-need I say more? I’m excited to report that today I fly to Lucerne, Switzerland to attend the Adventure Travel World Summit taking place October 8-11. Last year I took part in the summit which was held in Chiapas, Mexico. Every year the summit changes its’ destination and consequently which country that is hosting the annual event. The summit location for 2013 you ask? Namibia. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves…
This sold out event is put on by the Adventure Travel Trade Association, a trade organization of more than 800 members in the adventure travel industry. Over 600 people from 55 countries attend the summit and enjoy listening to keynote speakers such as Taleb Rifai, Secretary General of the United Nations World Tourism Organization, and Darrell Wade, CEO of PEAK Adventures and co-founder of Intrepid Travel. The amount of quality discussion, collaboration and above all, networking, is confounding. The topic of choice? Why adventure travel and the continued development of the industry of course.
Here’s the cold, hard truth about folks in the adventure travel biz; We work hard and then we follow it up by playing hard. At the summit we play hard BEFORE the actual conference as well. I’m thrilled to be attending a pre-summit adventure put on by the Interlaken Tourism Board. I’m planning to participate in a ropes course, go canyoning (jumping and sliding down narrow canyons into water) and “zip ride” down the side of a mountain in a harness. (Did I mention that travel insurance is always good to buy?) Others have the option of mountain biking, sailing, cheese making (seriously?), e-biking, and many more options.
The conference is going to be fun on a whole new level, this I’m certain of. It also will be beneficial and rewarding to learn about the trends in adventure travel, to meet like-minded folks in the industry and finally, to find new stories to write about and share with you readers out there.
Switzerland photo courtesy of Stephen Barber– Flickr-creative commons