Adventure Tourism Up Close
Clifton Maxwell and Katy McKinnon learn about sheep at a farm near Fox Glacier in New Zealand.
Recreation management senior Katy McKinnon caught a bug this summer—a conservation bug. Since returning from an adventure tourism
class in New Zealand, she says she has been very conscious of how she uses natural resources. The class, offered for the first time
this summer by the Department of Recreation, Sport and Tourism, gave students an in-depth view of how environmental protection and
tourism can work together. “As a nation, New Zealand set and exceeded an energy-saving goal,” Katy said, “but they also ask tourists
to help, too. They have timers on heaters, for example, and littering is never an option.”
The size of Colorado with a year-round population of about 4.5 million people, New Zealand hosts more than 2 million visitors
annually. It is the perfect setting to explore issues related to tourism and sustainability, says RST doctoral student Jeremy Robinett,
who co-taught the class with undergraduate advisor LoriKay Paden and Professor Laura Payne. “There is a deep reverence for the land in
New Zealand and an emphasis on environmental protection,” he said. “At the same time, there is a vibrant adventure tourism industry
promoting things such as bungee jumping, zip lining, mountaineering, and rock climbing.” Through readings and field experiences,
students in the class learned about land use issues, risk management, and infrastructural issues, as well as how culture, geography,
and research work together to create best practices.
In addition to RST, students represented such majors as kinesiology, psychology, music education, urban planning, and engineering.
Robinett says all the different lenses through which students viewed their experiences made for dynamic conversations. Kinesiology
student and outdoor enthusiast Clifton Maxwell says it also made for a great travel experience. “There was an awesome group of students
on the trip,” he said. “With a few exceptions, we didn’t know each other but we really hit it off, and they’re a good group of friends.”