The 2010 Adventure Travel World Summit was covered in the The Scotsman, a national Scottish newspaper, last week. The article describes the positive effects on the Scottish travel industry yielded by hosting the Summit.
"It's hard to overestimate the significance of last week's Adventure Travel World Summit in Aviemore, which saw 500 delegates from more than 50 countries – many of them tour operators – converge on the town to network, attend seminars and sample some of the many adventure sports the area has to offer.
Never mind that the event itself is estimated to be worth around £1 million to the town that hosts it, the knock-on effects for adventure tourism in Scotland could be huge. According to industry insiders, Scotland doesn't really feature on the world map of adventure travel destinations – particularly as far as the lucrative North American market is concerned – but the Aviemore Summit could change that. No figures are available for the value of deals struck last week, but the anecdotal evidence is very promising.
Betsy West runs walking tour operator Wayfarers and around 95 per cent of her business comes from the US. Her current brochure only lists one Scottish tour, but at Aviemore she said: 'We will definitely be including Scotland on a new itinerary.'
Peter Grubb of Idaho-based ROW Adventures added: 'It's very clever of any country to host this conference as it provides huge exposure to a wide audience. Scotland was barely on my radar in terms of a possible destination but now it's very much front and centre. I hope to develop a new itinerary or two here within a year. I have no doubt that Scotland will see increased international exposure in this market in the near future.'"
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