Tourism

This is an article titled The Safety Experience of New Zealand Adventure Tourism Operators by Tim A. Bentley, Stephen Page, and Linda Walker. It was published in the Journal of Travel Medicine, Volume 11, Number 5. The date of publication was not included.

Introduction
This article was made to study the parameters and factors that adventure tourism operators and operations in New Zealand face and experience when it comes to dealing with safety issues and avoiding accidents and injuries. Identification of the injury prevention measures done by tourism operators are being scrutinized and analyzed. They felt that there should be stricter guidelines in New Zealand when it comes to the safety of both tourists and the operators, as well as newer, more updated tourism management and safety systems, using science as the focal point. This will be done by asking tourism operators to complete a survey of their operations and how they perceive the risks involved, and to identify risk multipliers and barriers to safety. In the end, the results of the survey will help identify weaknesses and flaws in the existing safety and management systems for adventure tourism safety in New Zealand, and to provide feedback for an improvement in the future.

Study Introduction
New Zealands tourism sector is boosted by adventure tourism. The country has been a hotbed of new and alternative adventure sports and adventure tourism practices in the world. However, adventure tourism activities like white-water rafting, skydiving, mountain climbing and treks, and scenic flights carry higher personal risks compared to non-adventure tourism. In a span of a decade and a half from 1982-1996, there has been 1,027 injuries reported from overseas tourists, with 99 of them resulting in fatalities. An earlier study done in 1999 gave the authors a primer on the operations on adventure tourism operators, and this later survey done in 2003 will help them verify their findings. Comparing and contrasting the 1999 survey with the 2003 survey will help spot trends and refine existing actions on the safety of tourists and tourism operators.

Study Purpose
The study specifically asks for new interventions to prevent and reduce risks involved in adventure tourism, and to look for unidentified problems and loopholes in the existing injury control measures present in New Zealand. This aims to produce new and hopefully improved guidelines and safety systems, and injury control measures to further enhance the experiences of adventure tourists in New Zealand. Also, there is a need to understand the risks, both perceived and actual risks, involved in outdoor adventure tourism activities.

Method
The study was conducted through a postal questionnaire, the same method used in the 1999 survey. But before that, the team did a listing of all adventure tourism operators in their local areas and their profiles. Secondary data sources like directories and websites were used to gather as much adventure tourism operators as possible. The formal, postal questionnaire was then created with three things in mind the business or more specifically the ownership, the activities, the method of operations, the number of visitors both local and international in one year,  and the volume of business. The second factor is the perceptions of risk and injuries in their activities, and finally the last section is about dealing with cultural issues brought about by adventure tourism in the area.

Study Conclusions
The study found several findings that at least match the earlier 1999 survey, especially in finding trends about what is going on in an operation of adventure tourism, and what causes the most injuries and what are operators doing. To start, there was a 31.9 response rate to the survey, which is far below the 1999 survey that brought in close to 50 (in 2003, the rate was 96 out of 360). Though it was a smaller number, it was considered successful due to most of these safety surveys can only garner around 40 of the total responses. The respondents also represent a large geographical coverage of the North Island of New Zealand. Places like Auckland, Rotorua, Wanaka, Queenstown, Taupo, Nelson, and West Coast, all major tourism centers in New Zealands North Island were accounted for. Most of the businesses were small-scale enterprises, half of them had usually two or less employees, had a sole owner or had joint owners, and offer land or water-based activities. Aviation-based tourism businesses are also found but were only a small amount of the respondents (19).  The operators were asked to rank and list the highest number of perceived threats to safety in outdoor activities, and the consistent top scorer was on environmental factors and exposure to unfamiliar environments. Another high scorer was when clients fail to follow safety instructions and limitations of ability. The operators also recognize the lack of organization and aspects of the management in terms of safety.

The most common injury-prone activities are snow sports, bungee jumping, horseback riding, kayaking, multiactivity tourism and ecotourism activities. In the past 12 months before the survey, operators were asked to list down cases of tourism-related injuries and the respondents recorded a total of 1,095 cases. 148 (16) were serious enough to be needing hospitalization. However, 44 of the total respondents claimed to have no injuries in the past 12 months, and 37 had claimed to have 1-5 injuries in the past year before the survey.

As for safety improvements, 30 claimed that they have an operating plan and guidelines, due to them being involved with marine and aviation-related activities.16 operations claimed to have risk assessment procedures, 34 had staff training and selection, and 20 operators have regular system and equipment checks. A lot of these operators find that the costs of compliance to safety standards set by the New Zealand government are just too high for the majority, who are only small-scale businesses. Finding, hiring, and retaining competent and experienced staff are also costing them a lot, and is becoming a hindrance to many of these small businesses when it comes to following safety standards. But operators wanted a degree of risk and excitement involved, because it provides the most important part of adventure tourism realism. Working on the natural environment is risky in the first place in fact, they are always exposed to things beyond human control, making environmental factors the next biggest barrier to safety.  But, they wanted to have the ability to minimize and mitigate risks involved.

Study Implications
The low numbers of respondents and injuries recorded have some implications involved Are these companies deliberately understating the true facts And why are they reluctant to answer the survey, seeing that only 31.9  of the 360 businesses that were sent questionnaires had at least answered Is there a culture of whitewashing in the tourism sector Or are the most common injuries self-inflicted Since most of the tourism sectors clients are from other countries, are there language and cultural barriers needed to overcome so that they can participate with minimal risk A lot of injuries and accidents are usually blamed on poor weather conditions, but isnt it the job of the company to decide when is the best time to act A lot of these companies have problems trying to deal with foreign clients, yet still continue to use rather ineffective schemes to reduce injuries and risk. Companies and tourists needed to be fully aware of the added risk that adventure tourism has in store. Adventure tourism is still growing and a totally enjoyable and potentially profitable activity. Yes, the risks involved are higher than heavily regulated tourism, but only a few activities can rival the experience and exhilaration that adventure tourism can bring. In many ski resorts, skiing areas offer areas for various skill levels of skiers and snowboarders. In Canada, where ski resorts turn to mountain bike parks in the summer, these areas (most notably Whistler Mountain Bike Park in Whistler, Canada), delegate areas that are most suited for people of different riding skills and experience. Terms known as black-diamond and double black diamond ( trail designations in ski resorts and bike parks meaning for experts only) are strictly enforced to reduce injuries and risks to less skilled riders. The New Zealand government can opt to adapt these designations, or a variation of these for adventure tourism activities with high risk, like bungee jumping and white river rafting.

Personal Reflections
Reading this article gave good insights on what is going on in the New Zealand tourist industry. I have heard of New Zealands reputation as a tourist destination and its natural beauty, not to mention its ability to produce new, alternative forms of tourism. Activities like bungee jumping and Zorbing are some of the different alternatives that New Zealand has to offer. But there has been high growth in other adventure sports. For example, mountain biking, especially downhill racing has become more and more popular due to the successes of world-class downhill riders like Samuel Blenkinsop and UCI Mountain Bike Junior World Champions Cameron Cole and Brook MacDonald. New Zealand, with its pristine natural formations still relatively intact, will be at the vanguard of new, alternative adventure sports and outdoor recreation for years to come. However, from what I have learned in this article that in the name of profit and demand, some basic needs of adventure tourism, safety of both operators and tourists, are understated, even disregarded. What New Zealands adventure tourism industry is facing is worth looking at for other countries wanting to improve their existing ecotourism abilities, or create new markets and demand for ecotourism, especially in the realm of safety issues. Operators must know that these kinds of activities, though exciting and popular, carry significant risks and can cause injury to unprepared and unskilled persons, be it tourists or tourism employees. There should be stricter government standards and monitoring for adventure tourism businesses because of the higher risks involved, but there should also be initiatives made by the businesses themselves to police their ranks. Making an exciting yet safe adventure tourism experience need not be achieved by cutting corners and taking gambles on safety. If New Zealand is serious about its place as an a world class adventure tourism destination, there must be efforts to make the whole experience memorable, not memorable because of an untimely trip to a New Zealand hospital.