Adventures await still-fit retirees

Baby boomers are growing up, reaching retirement and hitting the road in increasing numbers to enjoy travel adventures ranging from hiking the Himalayas to pedaling in Pisa to rafting the Reventazon River in Costa Rica.

Adventure travel loosely defined as trips that are experiential and active is one of the most popular segments of the world’s largest industry.

These trips that get travelers out of the tour buses and closer to the culture of whatever destination are a good fit for a generation of people who may be retiring from work but not from physical activity.

Northern Colorado is home to two nationally recognized adventure travel companies: ExperiencePlus! Specialty Tours and Walking the World, both based in Fort Collins.

Ward Luthi, founder and president of Walking the World, said aging boomers are leaving their mark on the adventure travel industry.

Once largely the domain of 62- to 64-year-old divorced or widowed females, the demographics of his clientele have changed dramatically, Luthi said. “We see a lot more couples and a lot more people in the younger part of the 50- to 80-year-old group.”

Luthi said his adventure travel clients now are a more diverse group ranging from the younger newcomers to adventure travel to older travelers who “still want to have the adventures, want to see the beauty of natural areas and learn about the culture but dont want to be as active. & Were having to design two different kinds of trips.”

Host of destinations

Walking the World offers walking and hiking tours to a range of domestic and international destinations primarily for travelers who are “50 and better,” as the company puts it. Walking the World runs about 25 trips each year escorting some 400 travelers, Luthi said.

Walking the World trips include domestic destinations such as Alaska, California, Maine, New Mexico and Utah, as well as international destinations that include England, Ireland, France, Italy, Spain, the Czech Republic, Costa Rica and New Zealand.

Rick Price of Fort Collins-based ExperiencePlus! Specialty Tours said that while his business serves the general population from families with children to retirees and empty nesters the majority of his clients are between 45 and 65.

ExperiencePlus! will offer between 80 and 90 bicycling and walking trips this year to international destinations that include Italy, France, Spain, Greece, Costa Rica, Ireland, Switzerland, Denmark and New Zealand.

Travelers who are seeking out more active, participatory journeys claim varied backgrounds and hail from all kinds of professions. They may be retired or not, Luthi noted. “We havent yet found any one particular type of person who likes to travel.”

What they want from their travels is varied as well, Price said. Some are collecting destinations. Others are passionate about certain countries that they revisit over and over.

What these travelers share in common is the desire to be active while experiencing the cultures they’re traveling within.

“Theyre looking for an organized opportunity to get out and bicycle the countryside or walk and enjoy the food and see the things that take a lot of logistics to plan,” Price said.

“Most adventure travelers don’t want to sit in a big tour bus with 40 to 60 other people and just watch the experience go by. They want to actually walk in the areas, meet the people face to face. They want to be right up next to the experience, whatever it is,” Luthi said.

Local guides make the difference

Both ExperiencePlus! and Walking the World emphasize trips that use local guides who are familiar with the inner workings of whatever destination. x09

“Our local guides are with us the entire trip. We have people who are from the area, who know the natural history, the local history and know the local people. Those are the kinds of things that really bring those areas to life for people,” Luthi said.

“We provide guides and interpreters who understand the territory and who can sit down at dinner and talk about the politics, culture or history of the area,” Price said.

Trips might be built around the activity such as walking, biking or hiking, or the history, natural environment or culture of the place.

The types of adventure travel trips available vary as widely as the types of people interested in taking them. Adventure travelers might opt for a bike trip that coincides with the Tour de France. They might follow the footsteps of Saint James on an historical pilgrimage through Spain.

Degree of difficulty varies as well. As the trend ages, adventure travel purveyors are increasing their offers to include “soft” adventure trips such as a walking tour in the California wine country.

ExperiencePlus! has added a new type of trip to its itineraries called a “slowjourn.” Price said this new offering aims to meet the needs of couples or families with varied interests and physical abilities. The trip also allows a departure from the new-hotel-every-night standard of the traditional bike tour, he said.

“Most bicycle tours, traditionally, have gone from point to point, so you’re packing every day,” Price said. The slowjourn allows flexibility in how travelers spend their days. Some might opt to bicycle, others to walk. Some may want to devote the entire day to physical activity, others are interested in a mix of active and quieter endeavors.

“So everyone goes out and does their thing and comes back either to the pool in the afternoon, or dinner in the evening.”

Price said Italy remains one of ExperiencePlus! tours most popular destination. Trips to France that coincide with the Tour de France bicycling competition there are also popular.

Experience Plus! Tours typically run between 7 and 10 nights and cost between $2,400 and $3,000, less for shorter, off-season journeys, more for more elaborate bike- or walk-and-cruise tours.

Luthi said Walking the World has found its domestic trips enjoying growing popularity. The popularity of various destinations is constantly shifting. “It depends on whats happening” in the world, he noted.

Walking the World trips range in price from about $1,295 for a Utah camping expedition to $3,795 for an Alaska trip.

Spain, the Czech Republic and Slovenia are Walking the Worlds most popular European destinations. “The Czech Republic and Slovenia in Eastern Europe are coming on very, very strong. The scenery and history are really drawing a lot of people and those are places that havent been visited a lot,” Luthi said.

Price noted that there is growing interest in a new kind of adventure travel that combines multiple sports or activities. “These are for people who are not just avid cyclists, they want to river raft, hike in the rain forest, do some bicycling and then maybe some sea kayaking.”

Potential destinations for adventure travel are always evolving, Price said. “Were constantly looking for new destinations that people are interested in.”

on Facebook on LinkedIn