Expedition travel on rise as interest in adventure holidays grows – are you fit enough to make the cut?
Like Hongkonger Cyrus Hung, who joined an expedition in the mountains of Iraq, travellers are going to increasing lengths to get off the beaten track - on trips where it’s the travel agent who picks you, not the other way round
When was the last time you felt like you were on a different planet? Airports, shopping malls, hotels and resorts are filled with global brands that push a bland global style, creating familiarity almost everywhere you look. Meanwhile, ubiquitous 4G mobile communications networks make it difficult to get off the beaten track and have unique travel experiences. The answer? Go off grid, on an expedition.
In a recent Skyscanner survey, 10 per cent of Hong Kong people chose adventure as one of their top three reasons for travelling.
“Adventure holidays are increasingly popular with younger age groups,” says Fang Fang, senior marketing manager at Skyscanner Greater China. “Fourteen per cent of 18- to- 24-year-olds listed adventure as a top reason to travel, versus just 2 per cent of those aged above 55.”
It’s the age group in between, who will often have seen many of the world’s top tourist sights, that are most attracted to expedition travel.
“The challenge of the expedition itself is the highlight,” says Cyrus Tak Yau Hung, 34, from Hong Kong, who has just returned from an expedition in Iraqi Kurdistan with independent expeditionary travel company Secret Compass (secretcompass.com).