Adventure Tourism

 

In 2002, adventure tourism was kick-started in Hanoi by Vietnam Tourism Company in coordination with world-leading adventure tourism company Raid Gauloise, which organised an adventure sports tour for more than 600 people over 15 days. So far, it remains the largest adventure tourism event in Vietnam, marking the birth of adventure tourism in the country.

 

After the event with Raid Gauloise, Vietnam Tourism Company, Adventures Travel of France and Action Asia Events of Hong Kong jointly organised the Action Asia programme 2002. After two successful programmes, many adventure tours were launched by Vietnamese travel firms, including Fansipan mountain climbing in 2003 on the occasion of Sapa’s 100^th anniversary. In 2004, Saigontourist cooperated with Saffron Road Tours (Australia) to organise a heavy motorbike tour across Vietnam “Saffron Road Vietnam Tour 2004”.

 

So far, travel firms have constructed and organised many adventure tours like climbing Langbiang summit, crossing Datanla waterfall, climbing Prenn pass (Da Lat), exploring Bat Cave (Phan Thiet), climbing cliffs in Vinh Hao or Con Dao Island, climbing Bach Ma summit (Thua Thien-Hue), diving in Nha Trang City, swimming upstream the Ma River (Thanh Hoa), diving in Trang Beach, kayaking, climbing mountains in Ha Long (Quang Ninh), riding all-terrain bikes in the northwest, bamboo rafting in Madagui (Lam Dong) and riding gliders and riding Minsk motorbike across Vietnam. Most recently, a company at 503 Phan Duy Chinh, Ho Chi Minh City inaugurated a 24-metre high artificial cliff for people to climb at daily fee of US$24.

 

In fact, adventure tourism has existed in Vietnam for long. There were many tours organised to explore the mountainous northwest and central highlands regions by bike, to trek across Cuc Phuong or Nam Cat Tien forests, and Truong Son trail by bike or motorbike. Customers are mainly young adventurous people with plenty of time and the desire to explore new places. The attractiveness of adventure tourism stems from the love of exploring nature, fully experiencing life, restoring vitality and improving oneself with each tour.

 

Although there is significant progress, Vietnamese adventure tourism is generally still poor in quality and quantity. A representative from Lua Viet Tourism Company said the biggest difficulty in organizing adventure tours is the lack of professional tour guides. For example, an adventure tour guide must know the location well and be able to perform the activity easily themselves before guiding tourists.

 

In an adventure tour, the biggest difficulty is to ensure safety for participants. According to the experience of Vietnam Tourism Company in Hanoi, when Raid Gauloise organised an adventure tour, it sent staff to the place many times to explore the terrain, the climate, stop points, and places to stay and eat before the event took place. It also thought of solutions to possible unexpected incidents during the tour. Depending on the kind of tour, organisers will prepare boats and rafts to cross the river, special devices for mountain climbers as well as communication, logistics and rescue equipment. When developing adventure tourism products, travel companies usually encounter difficulties in applying for permits for organisation. Besides, the cost for preparing necessary equipment for adventure tours is normally very high and after the initial success, many other travel firms usually follow the model. Thus, many travel firms do not want to invest in this form of tourism, although the endowment of nature is immense and market demand is high. 

 

“Asia Travel Intentions Survey 2007” organised by Visa International Asia Pacific (Visa) and the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) showed that 38 per cent of interviewed 5,000 international travellers in 10 key tourism market will choose Vietnam as a destination in the next two years, with a proportion keen on adventure tourism.