Microadventures are short getaways that include low-risk activities like hiking and cycling. Photo: AFP/Istock
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The interest in experiential travel and healthier lifestyles is carving out a new niche which industry experts are calling microadventure.
Also known as soft adventures, the trend is characterised by short getaways filled with low-risk activities that require little training or experience and minimal gear. Activities like hiking, cycling, swimming, kayaking, ziplining and waterfall climbing.
The word “microadventure” is the latest travel jargon to be presented as an emerging trend for 2017 in a wide sweeping Global Trends Report 2016 presented at the World Travel Market in London this week. The report was prepared by market research group Euromonitor.
Coined by British “adventurer” Alastair Humphreys in recent years, the term microadventure applies to outdoor adventures that are small and achievable for “normal people with real lives”.
No ultramarathons or kamikaze jumps out of airplanes here.
Humphreys was also named National Geographic Adventurer of the Year.
[embedded content]The microadventure trend is seeing particular growth among busy European travellers looking for healthy, active outlets from their fast-paced, urban lives, analysts say.
Microadventures can be solo or multigenerational affairs or taken with friends and family.
Airlines and tour companies have also caught on, creating microadventure packages and presenting them as alternatives to the traditional weekend city break, point out Euromonitor researchers.
In a collaboration with low-frills carrier easyJet, Humphreys offers ideas on how to turn mini-breaks in Europe into microadventures. Aside from coffee shops, for instance, visitors to Vienna, Austria may want to consider swimming the New Danube.
Also recommended by Humphreys is a 40-minute train ride from Paris that leads visitors to the Forest of Fontainebleau, a picturesque campsite with several trails and hikes to choose from. – AFP Relaxnews
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