Adventure Travel World Summit (ATWS) came to a close on 14 September 2023 in Sapporo, Japan. We asked EXO Director of Adventure, Matt Blench, to share his impressions and key takeaways from the event.
The premier adventure travel trade event attracted more than 750 industry professionals from around the world for a week of meetings, seminars and, of course, adventures.
‘This is my fourth time attending ATWS and Sapporo was the perfect host destination. The island of Hokkaido (where Sapporo is located) is an adventure playground, with plenty of options for outdoor activities in any season,’ Matt explains.
Joining Matt at this year’s event were Joshua Bewig (Japan Adventure Team Manager), and Kit Loose (Adventure Product Development Manager)
Matt, Kit and Joshua held more than 20 meetings with partners as well as countless casual conversations with tour operators and agents from around the world.
‘Adventure tourism is growing at a rapid pace and there is no sign of it slowing down any time soon.’
‘Being in Japan, much of the buzz was about the adventure opportunities within the country. It’s been booming since fully reopening earlier this year so the conversations focused on finding those more remote areas, ones that aren’t yet on the radar and perfect for adventure,’ Matt remarked.
Another popular topic at the 2023 Summit was cycling tours. ‘Obviously it is an adventure summit, but I was still surprised at the number of people who wanted to talk about cycling. It is a sector that has been steadily growing since COVID,’ Matt explained. ‘EXO has a long history pioneering cycling tours in Asia and beyond, so I was very excited to see this growing interest.’
Other popular discussion topics included family adventure travel, slow travel and luxury adventures. Summits and presentations further extended to themes of inclusive travel, travel technology and sustainability.
‘We, as an industry, should be doing more for sustainability. Everyone plays a part.’
For Matt, one of the most impactful sessions he attended was a ‘campfire chat’ with Intrepid Travel’s Darryl Wade and ATTA founder Shannon Stowell. The industry giants talked about sustainability and pressed attendees to ‘do more’.
‘They didn’t hold back,’ Matt remarked. ‘They were quite firm in the belief that we, as an industry, should be doing more for sustainability. Everyone plays a part.’
Back in the Bangkok office, Matt sums up his experience at ATWS. ‘There were a lot of great meetings and conversations. The one thing that was clearly evident is that adventure tourism is growing at a rapid pace and there is no sign of it slowing down.’
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