Adventure travel is a fairly new concept as far as vacation planning and is becoming quite popular in the tourism industry. This phenomenon goes back approximately fifty years originating from traditional vacation travel shifting to the outdoors. Traditional travel vacations can certainly be recreational, but adventure travel takes that recreation to the next level offering adventurists the opportunity to enjoy activities such as backpacking, rock climbing or diving.

The adventure travel industry emphasizes activities rather than simply "getting you to a destination." If simply visiting destinations is what you have in mind, then adventure travel vacations are probably not the best selection. Adventure travel is more concerned with providing its travelers the opportunity to experience certain activities, cultures and customs and interact with local people rather than simply visiting an area.

The adventure travel industry has grown dramatically in the past several decades by providing travelers quality vacations in many parts of the world. The benefits of cheaper travel today have trickled down to those travelers who know the destinations they want to visit and how much they can spend. With that in mind, many changes have been made to accommodate the needs of travelers and the adventure travel industry has seen fast growth because of it. Travelers can now enjoy tourism of many types including nature tourism and ecotourism among many other tours specific to the interests of the traveler.

The adventure travel industry is now offering travelers even better products than before and are moving beyond cheap tours and providing more substance to the packages to satisfy travelers' demands. The adventure travel industry has created new travel patterns catering to the changes of adventure tourism and meeting the needs of travelers who no longer want to simply sit in a tour bus and watch the monuments as they stroll along the side streets. Rather, many travelers want to be directly involved in the excitement, experience new activities and find adventure in uncommon tourist spots.

With the new demands of travelers, the adventure travel industry has responded to the challenges by expanding in all travel related aspects by providing not only first class adventure packages but also better quality equipment, tour operator capabilities and many other top notch travel products and services. Time will only tell what the adventure travel industry will come up with next, but one thing is certain. It must continue to offer an excellent choice of quality adventure packages and exciting activities in fascinating destinations around the world.