1. Expertise
  2. Adventure Tourism

Adventure Tourism

Creating high-value tourism experiences that leverage natural and cultural assets

Adventure tourism (AT) offers high-value travel experiences that combine nature, culture, and activities to foster personal transformation. By incorporating operational approaches that help protect local resources, it supports higher value generation, longer stays, and the decentralization of tourism to regional areas.

Our Capabilities

JTB Tourism Research & Consulting serves as the secretariat for the Japan Adventure Tourism Association (JATO) and works in collaboration with the Adventure Travel Trade Association (ATTA), the world’s largest global network for adventure tourism.
The essence of adventure tourism lies not only in outdoor activities, but in reinterpreting a region’s natural and cultural assets as authentic narratives that offer travelers meaningful learning experiences and deeper engagement.
We provide end-to-end support—from market assessments and product development to guide training (with a focus on safety and interpretation) and the development of visitor management systems—to drive outcomes that enhance revenue per visitor, extend length of stay, and promote regional diversification and sustainability.

Solutions & Approaches

AT Potential Assessment and Strategy Development

We evaluate local natural and cultural resources from the perspective of the global active tourism market to identify competitive advantages and define the target profile of high-value-added travelers. We design an integrated approach encompassing infrastructure development, product creation, and marketing communications, and formulate an implementation roadmap and KPIs aimed at increasing average spending per visitor while encouraging longer stays and spreading tourism across regional areas.

Support for the Development of High-Value-Added AT Products

We design value centered on experiences that integrate nature, culture, and activities, allowing guests to engage with nature through all five senses, immerse themselves in local life, and undergo personal transformation. We refine itineraries, narratives, and service quality—including the flow of the experience, a comfortable pace, and informative commentary—to achieve both high-value pricing and extended stays, ultimately developing product specifications that are market-ready.

AT Guide: Training for New Hires

The key to high-value-added AT lies in guides who, in addition to ensuring safety, draw out and convey the five experiential values of AT—novelty, self-transformation, wellness, challenge, and impact on nature—from local resources. We will develop personnel with a focus on interpretation and storytelling, establish operational guidelines such as visitor capacity limits and codes of conduct, and build a sustainable reception system capable of providing these experiences on an ongoing basis.

Overseas Network and Promotion Support

We will leverage international networks such as ATTA to create opportunities for engagement with overseas buyers and media. In addition to expanding sales channels through business matchmaking events and FAM trips, we will strengthen local stakeholders’ ability to present their offerings—including sales strategies, product presentation, and the preparation of promotional materials—and support their outreach efforts, with a focus on Europe, the Americas, and Australia, while also targeting premium markets in Asia.

Related Keywords

  • Adventure Tourism
  • National park
  • Sustainable Tourism
  • AT
  • high-value-added travelers
  • long-term stays
  • regional diversification
  • authenticity
  • guide training
  • development of reception infrastructure

Selected Projects

Ministry of the Environment
FY 2024

FY 2024 National Park Adventure Travel Development Project Implementation Services

With the aim of revitalizing local communities by leveraging the outstanding natural environment of national parks, we provide ongoing support—in collaboration with local businesses and other stakeholders—to refine and commercialize adventure travel experiences, establish sales channels, and formulate relevant regulations.

Okinawa Prefecture
FY 2024

FY 2024 Project to Develop High-Value-Added Inbound Tourism Destinations: Commissioned Project for the Promotion of Adventure Tourism

Market research, human resource development, product development, and other activities aimed at promoting adventure tourism in Okinawa Prefecture and the Amami region of Kagoshima