Galapagos ranked #1 destination by focused adventure travel site

AvidTrips this week announced the results of its first Top Adventures survey taken in June 25 at this year’s Adventures NYC in Central Park. From a field of 60 domestic and international adventure destinations, the results reveal the world’s top three adventure travel destinations as The Galapagos Islands, the South Island of New Zealand, and Machu Picchu respectively. That caught my attention. Going further I discovered a really easy to navigate, focused adventure travel website that offers a wide variety of adventure travel options complete with ratings on difficulty and activity levels, price and more.

“The launch of our annual Top Adventures survey is part of our ongoing efforts to bring the world’s most amazing adventure trips to travelers” said Sanem Eruçar, Founder & CEO of AvidTrips.

Respondents were asked to select up to three places they most want to visit. In addition to ranking the Galapagos Islands number one, results revealed differences in desired adventures by age and gender.

The South Island of New Zealand emerged the top pick among female adventurers, followed by Machu Picchu and the Galapagos Islands. Male adventurers picked the Galapagos Islands first, followed by Patagonia and Yosemite National Park.

Travelers in the 18-34 age group would like to visit the South Island of New Zealand, the Galapagos Islands and Machu Picchu, whereas adventurers in the 35-54 age group selected Bora Bora, French Polynesia, the Galapagos Islands and Yosemite National Park as their most desired adventure destinations.

AvidTrips is a different sort of website that empowers adventure travelers to discover and book adventure trips directly with the world’s leading adventure tour operators, skipping the travel agent.

“Whether you’re a horseback rider or trekker, scuba diver or cyclist,we aim to bring you the widest selection of the most exhilarating adventure experiences – so you can focus on finding the trip that’s right for you.” says AvidTrips on it’s website.

After joining via Facebook, users can pick activities and see a map of where they are being offered world-wide. I chose “climbing” and was presented with a map showing organized tours at various locations, complete with a description of what is being offered and a price.

Just for fun, I picked a tour called Everest Base Camp with Island Peak (like I could survive it) and got a quick overview of what to expect along with a detailed description of all that would be happening. Included too were alternative but related tours and resources for further investigation.

This is good stuff to simply kill some time on a hot summer day or get a serious idea of what is involved, when the best time to go is and what costs might involve.

Flickr photo by alh1

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