Safety in New Zealand's adventure tourism industry: the client accident experience of adventure tourism operators.
BACKGROUND
Injuries and fatalities among participants of adventure tourism activities have the potential to seriously impact on New Zealand's tourism industry. However, the absence of statistics for tourist accidents in New Zealand, and the lack of detailed academic research into adventure tourism safety, means the extent of the problem is unknown. The aims of the present study were to determine the incidence of client injuries across a range of adventure tourism activity sectors, and to identify common accident events and contributory risk factors.


METHODS
A postal questionnaire survey of New Zealand adventure tourism operators was used. Operators were asked to provide information related to their business; the number of recorded client injuries during the preceding 12 month period, January to December 1998; common accident and injury events associated with their activity; and perceived risk factors for accidents in their sector of the adventure tourism industry.


RESULTS
The survey was responded to by 142 New Zealand adventure tourism operators. The operators' reported client injury experience suggests the incidence of serious client injuries is very low. Highest client injury incidence rates were found for activities that involved the risk of falling from a moving vehicle or animal (e.g., cycle tours, quad biking, horse riding, and white-water rafting). Slips, trips, and falls on the level were common accident events across most sectors of the industry. Perceived accident/incident causes were most commonly related to the client, and in particular, failure to attend to and follow instructions.


CONCLUSIONS
The prevalence of client injuries in activity sectors not presently covered by government regulation, suggests policy makers should look again at extending codes of practice to a wider range of adventure tourism activities. Further research considering adventure tourism involvement in overseas visitor hospitalized injuries in New Zealand, is currently in progress. This will provide supporting evidence for the risk associated with participation in a range of commercial and independently undertaken adventure activities.
Bentley
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Centre for Tourism Research, Department of Management and International Business, Massey University, Albany, New Zealand.
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Laird
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D000059:Accidents / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D009520:New Zealand / Q000453:epidemiology; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012449:Safety; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014195:Travel; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology