Leisure and Tourism isn’t the industry it once was. Yet it still is booming, with room for new businesses and the like if you find yourself a nice location and niche to make the most of it. There are hundreds of things you need to consider when forming your own adventure retreat, especially as a startup. Health and safety are huge concerns of course, depending on what kinds of activities you are going to run there. Think to yourself, what do the best adventure retreats have? And what will make your adventure retreat great? Visit current retreats and see what they do well and not so well. Improve and adjust. Don’t just get stuck in without properly examining everything on offer and coming up with a key business plan. Your plan can guide you onwards. You need to think about the accommodation too. Are you aiming for simple or premium? Are you going to include relaxation facilities or go for a rugged kind of place where adventure is everything.
The amount of things you need to think about are huge and varied. This article can help you come to decisions about what to include in your retreat. You may have already considered many things, yet this article can help you address certain concerns that may remain. Good luck!
One of the first things you need to do is find the right land for your retreat. It is tough going. You may already have the land available and could be using it for other things and intend to change it. Or you could be on the lookout for the right parcel of land to implement what you need. You must ensure you go for larger land than smaller. The mistake most make is in thinking they are saving money by going for the smaller parcels of land. Yet then they have to buy more land down the line when they want to expand. You must ensure you get more than you think you need. It makes sense. Look at its location. Are there other retreats nearby that you think will be tough competition? if so you may want a rethink. Is it close to common commuter links? Meaning it will be easy to reach. You need space for both accommodation and also your attractions. You should also look for natural wonders to make use out of. This can be hilly forest paths, cave systems and rivers. They can all add something to your retreat just ensure they are safe before jumping ahead.
In terms of attractions you need to be all encompassing, meaning you need different things to ensure different types of people stay happy in your establishment. High fly items like zip wires are great, you can find out more about them at www.ZipLineSolutionsUS.com, but they will in no way appeal to people who hate heights. You need to be varied and open, ensuring you use a nice mix of different attractions. If you wanted more height attractions then tree climbing is a great one, where people traverse a mix of wires and nets through the heights. However, there is room for accident here so ensure they are safe at all times with safety nets and wires and a certified instructor too. Rock climbing is another great way to go about the exploitation of height, especially if you are situated on mountainous terrain. If not, there is always the option of an indoor rock climbing centre which could be a great addition to any adventure retreat.
There are many other attractions you could implement. Paintball is a good one and a team activity too. You need to provide masks, overalls, guns and paintballs, and design areas where people can fight it out. The areas are quite small, though you should aim for more than one to be properly successful, each should be themed somewhat too, meaning you need to buy additions for each area. You must ensure health and safety here too, masks are important to protect eyes so they should be worn at all times.
If you fancied something else you could potentially look at go karting. Again, courses don’t actually require that much space, but they do mean you’ll be paying out for petrol and maintenance on a regular basis. You should a professional designer in to look at the course, and you’ll need instructors around to show people how to use the vehicles in a safe and guided way. There can of course be accidents and as a result you should provide good quality helmets. It may cost a lot of money if you need to level or raise some land, the karts will be expensive as will the road. It could be a great idea just bear in mind it won’t come cheap and if you want to do it you may need more of a loan.
Staying with an adrenalin rush, you could consider a dry ski slope. It provides a fun thing to do that is fairly passive. It doesn’t cost too much either, depending on how high you want it to be. You need clear cut rules. Not too many people on the slope at the same time, long clothing worn as slips can burn bare skin, etc. If you have a bigger budget you could go for an indoor artificial snow slope, these are hugely expensive however and take large amounts of maintenance and ginormous amounts of energy to keep running. Though they will provide a nice attraction for all attending your retreat and will indeed pull more people to it.
If you wanted to go away from the intense and adrenaline fueled attractions you could look into simpler things like orienteering, forest walks, etc. Clay pigeon shooting or a general shooting range could be a safe bet too. Just as an archery range is. It is accessible for all and is a skill based pastime rather than one that gets your heart racing and could appeal to way more people. Again, cater for all. The more varied you are the more people will come to your retreat.
If you have the scenic areas on your property you could consider a biking trail. Take a leaf out of centre parks book. There are bike trails everywhere, leading from each accommodation meaning people can get some great exercise while enjoying the views. Forming a bike trail isn’t easy, and you could do well by looking into different kinds of trail. One for kids or an easier trail for people looking to relax and another for those who are more serious cyclists. You can take inspiration from some of these trails.
If you are lucky enough to have a property on a river or near water you can make the use out of it. Canoeing or kayaking can be brilliant and relaxing pastimes. The equipment lasts for an age too. You will need to supply life jackets though. You will also need to recruit an instructor to help watch over everyone and ensure they are safe. If you have a long enough river you can take them on a course that intersects with cycling, adding to a great and varied day out. If the waterway is big enough you can even use motorised equipment like jet skis or speed boats, meaning water skiing and other kinds of sports. If you don’t have the water then don’t fret, there are other things you can do and focus on as discussed.
You also need to look at the accommodation. These kinds of places are often frequented by families as well as couples and groups of friends. As such, independent accommodation are often the best. Yet if you wanted it all out of one building it won’t matter too much. You need to come to a consensus on what kinds of accommodation you want to offer. You could go the whole hog and use luxury accommodation, offering swimming pools and spa treatments, or you could keep it simple and use basic rooming for the rustic kind of people who would be spending most of their time outside anyway.
You also need to look at your food. Are you offering a restaurant, cafe, are you giving people the option to buy their own food and cook it at their accommodation? Do you provide barbeques for cook outs? These are all questions you need to address. The best bet would be a bit of both. A restaurant should be provided to ensure people can eat when they don’t want to cook but they should also be allowed to do as they wish in terms of cooking from their own accommodation. Again, choice is key. The more choice you have the more chance people are going to use your adventure retreat over the dozens of others out there in the country. Be all encompassing and remember to factor in people’s feedback. Using this, and by listening to other people’s opinions you can make your retreat even better!
