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The Adventure Tourism and Outdoor Recreation Sector

Adventure tourism is divided into two categories: hard adventure and soft adventure,while outdoor recreation is commonly divided into three areas of activity: skiing, gold

and tennis, and marine activities.

Hard adventure, such as mountain climbing, involves some risk and involves some riskand requires strenuous physical exertion on part of the participant. Soft adventure, such

as hiking on a trail, is less risky, less strenuous, and requires little or no participation. Tocapture the tourist looking for a soft adventure, whitewater rafting companies have gone

to larger more stable rafts or quieter areas of the river.

The Canadian national parks system falls on the jurisdiction of a government departmentcalled Heritage Canada. Parks Canada does more than just manage the parks system; it

manages Canadas national program of historical commemoration, ensuring thecommemorative integrity of 131 national historic sites. In addition, their mandate also

includes seven operating historic canals and over 650 additional historic sites.

Each province has its own series of protected natural habitats similar to those under thenational parks system.

The Canadian Environmental Advisory Council has defined ecotourism as tourism that

focuses on nature-related experiences that help people appreciate and understand ournatural resources and their conservation. Non-consumptive tourism occurs when the

tourist takes nothing from the destination and leaves nothing there. The keycharacteristics of ecotourism include the following:

Ecotourists get first-hand experience with the natural and cultural environment ofa country or region.

Members of the group experience nature on its terms, not on their terms. Ecotourists recognize that natural and cultural resources are essential to the

experience and therefore must be protected, their usage limited.

Participants recognize the benefits of the ecosystem to all living things througheducation provided before and during their trip.

The experience promotes a positive environmental attitude and code of ethics.Heritage/cultural tourism is to a culture what ecotourism is to nature. The World

Tourism Organization defines heritage (sometimes called cultural) tourism as immersionin he natural history, human heritage, arts, philosophy, and institutions of another region

or country. It is estimated that 40% of the overseas market, 37% of the US market, and33% of the domestic tourist market will include some heritage-related activities on a

Canadian vacation.

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Outdoor Recreation

In celebration of the new millennium, associations that represent many outdoorrecreational activities such as hiking and cross-country skiing decided to join forces and

create the Trans Canada Trail. The group, the Trans Canada Trail Foundation, is a

nonprofit, charitable organization whose mission is to Promote and coordinate theplanning, designing and building of a continuous shared-use recreation trail that windsthrough every province and territory.

Specific outdoor recreational activities popular in Canada include skiing (35% of the

population), golf and tennis. Canada also has a multitude of popular marine experiencesand water-based activities. Sport fishing, whale watching, sea kayaking, sailing in tall

ships, and deep sea diving, to name a few, are other popular marine activities. Otherrecreational sports include hiking, mountaineering, bicycling, wildlife viewing, and

jogging along a beautiful beach.

The Tourism Impact on the Environment

The tourism industry is founded on the environment. Tourism provides an incentive forthe restoration of historic sites and archaeological treasures and the conservation of

natural resources. However, another view is that tourism means overcrowding, noise,litter, and disruption or extinction of animal life and vegetation. Tourism also results in

the dumping of waste materials into rivers and onto beaches. Carrying capacity is themaximum number of people who can use a site with only acceptable alteration to the

physical environment and with only acceptable decline in the quality of the experienceof subsequent visitors. An example is Deer Valley Ski Resort in Utah. It has limited 3000

people on the mountain at one time.

Tourists may affect vegetation doing something as simple as gathering twigs to start acampfire. Many campgrounds now offer firewood free or for a nominal fee to minimize

damage to an area. Tourists sometimes do not recognize the damage they cause bycollecting flowers. That is why Parks Canada post signs that say, Leave only footprints.

Take only pictures. Building trails and walkways and asking tourists to stay on them isanother way to lessen the impact on the environment. Tourists also dont realize that

swimming with suntan lotion on can affect water quality. Recreational boating also canaffect the water with oil and gas spills. In camping areas the wildlife sometimes becomes

too comfortable with the camper and expect to be fed by them. This alters the food chainand in time the species may become extinct. When that happens tourists may no longer be

interested in visiting that area.

Sustainable tourism development means meeting the needs of existing tourists and hostregions while protecting and enhancing opportunities for the future. Canadas Green Plan

recommends that 12 percent of Canadas lands be protected space for parks, historic sites,and wildlife. Currently only 7.1 percent of Canadas lands and waters have some degree

of legal protection.