Outdoor Recreation Client Trends

Environmental Constraints 

In the outdoor recreation industry, we are not strangers to environmental events. It is a risk that comes with operating in the great outdoors. And while they don’t typically halt operations completely, they can have a significant impact on how businesses operate and what numbers look like at the end of the year. 

Between the devastating Maui wildfire that killed over 100 people on August 8th, 2023, historic heat waves throughout the Midwest and Southern U.S. that took 247 lives, and the life-claiming tornadoes that damaged parts of the central United States throughout 2023, natural disasters took their toll. In fact, NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information calculated that 2023 came with a natural disaster price tag of over $92.9 billion in damages, and that does not account for all December events.

To combat this, operators had to get creative. Some were able to flex their seasons—staying open later into the season if they had stronger water flow with late-season rains. Rivers too low to run white water rafting trips? Instead of calling it quits, we had clients ramp up their fly fishing trips and even introduce river tubing floats. Instead of defaulting to refunding trips canceled due to natural disasters, operators rescheduled trips when possible and tried to push for trip credits, as well as online or in-store retail credits.

TOMIS Tip: Some TOMIS clients are encouraging their customers to purchase travel insurance that covers events such as natural disasters, especially for expensive, multi-day trips. At the very least, we recommend considering an in-house flexible trip policy or booking protection add-on as mentioned above. 

The More Advanced Recreationalist – People Searching for Bigger Challenges

We have been following this trend closely, as the needs of the traveler have changed throughout the years. People have found their hobbies, dove deep, bought the gear, and now adventure on their own to places where they used to book guided trips.

So, how do we keep that past customer of guided trips engaged and booking our trips moving forward? Offer more challenging, longer, and more specific trips. We’re seeing more and more that guests want to push themselves and learn something new—not just go outside and post a picture so they can prove they did so.

TOMIS Tip: Consider introducing clinics to your offerings, or build an educational course into your multi-day trip. Offer different levels for guests with varying skills or experience—specifically more advanced offerings.

Obstacles Operating in or Around National Parks

If there is one thing that draws in tourism, seemingly regardless of external factors like economic turmoil or pandemic pressure, it’s our national parks. Historically, being located near these destinations is a fool-proof way to guarantee business success. Operate within a national park versus outside or near national parks? That can generate even more demand! Being able to utilize and rank organically for popular keywords in search engines can increase business demand and interest.

However, as the demand continues to skyrocket for national park visits, the NPS is having a hard time keeping up its infrastructure, staff, and programs to match. This summer, the U.S. Department of the Interior released the following statement:

“For some parks, providing great experiences has become more challenging due to increases in the number of people visiting, changes to when and how visitors arrive, and evolving visitor needs and expectations, including how visitors want to  engage in the parks. Some parks are finding the level of visitor demand to be  significantly outpacing their ability to accommodate, resulting in the need to explore new management strategies. Park facilities and staffing levels are challenged to keep pace with this changing visitation, impacting the quality of the visitor experience, health and safety, and resource protection. These visitation changes are also felt outside park boundaries in adjacent lands, waters, and communities.” (USDI, 2023)

Many national parks are utilizing permitting systems to control visitation, which seemingly has had the largest impact on tour operators leading experiences within the park.

TOMIS Tip: We recommend getting creative with your offerings. How can you expand during shoulder seasons when there are fewer visitor restrictions? Can you create a more intimate outdoor experience for your clients by visiting destinations around the park with similar views and offerings? 

Overwhelmed with where to start? We can help. Shoot us a message or give us a call so we can discuss what would work best for your specific business. 

Rentals are Down, Retail is Up

As mentioned above, people interested in outdoor activities are expanding upon their knowledge, becoming experts in the space, and in some areas, relying less on rentals and certain tour offerings.

As we’ve seen a decrease in demand for rentals for some of our clients, we’ve seen retail sales increase—solidifying the need to lock in your e-commerce presence and offerings.

Grizzly Hackle, a TOMIS client offering both guided trips and retail sales, saw a 75% increase in online retail sales in 2023 vs. 2022. This growth followed a rebuild and relaunch of their online store, as well as an increase in marketing efforts to support e-commerce sales.

Guests Want to Learn, Not Just Cross Off a Bucket-List Item

This year, we noticed an interesting trend that swept across activity verticals and geographic locations; customers are looking to immerse themselves into the local culture, learn in-depth information about specific wildlife, and develop a new skill they can build upon and/or take back to their day-to-day routine at home. Customers are past simply traveling to a location to snap a picture of themselves doing something cool or standing somewhere famous. They want to learn and grow. They want to challenge themselves.

Arrival predicted the growth of Experiential Tourism in 2023 and beyond sharing, “Many tourists are keen to experience the real world more authentically.”

TOMIS Tip: Looking for ways to make your offerings more immersive and experiential? Start small. How can you adjust the tours you already offer to accomplish this? Consider hiring local guides with in-depth knowledge of the surrounding area and culture. Add a storytelling component to each of your trips. Expand upon your online tour descriptions, sharing what customers can expect to learn after participating in one of your offerings.