Understanding the U.S. Adventurer Traveler

This infographic represents research findings from the 2014 Adventure Pulse survey. This first “pulse” profiles U.S. adventure travelers. Future pulse research will look at adventure travelers in other countries or regions.

The U.S. pulse results allowed the ATTA to introduce a new approach to segmenting adventure travelers into “types”: Adventure Grazers, Adventurers and Adventure Enthusiasts. Survey questions refined the differences between the types, probing differences in skill level, whether they repeat activities or bounce around, how they understand risk as an element of their experience and the values they hold.

The Adventure Pulse data allows tour operators and travel advisors to go beyond basic gender and age categorizations of clientele to inform their product development and marketing efforts with a more nuanced view of potential clients. For example, instead of just thinking in terms of marketing to men, women or families in different age groups, tour operators can now decide if they are marketing to people who are primarily working through their “bucket list” (Grazers) or people with a preference and skill for a particular sport (Adventurers). Knowing more about some of the dominant motivations and reasons for using – or not using – tour operators will further guide adventure companies in shaping their products and communicating their value.