Creating Great Adventures
As the natural world awakens from its winter rest, so too does the aerial adventure industry. High season is on the horizon. As you ramp up to meet the coming summer demand, now is the time to dial in your operation.
Spring is a season of possibilities. To that end, in this issue of Adventure Park Insider we’ve tried to give you the tools to imagine what is possible for your business. There are often efficiencies to be found at even the most well-run adventure operation. For advice on how to work smarter, not harder, check out “Doing More With Less” (p. 36).
The adoption of new digital tools has been a key efficiency gain for many operators. For the latest innovations in booking software, see “Digital Migration” (p. 52). With digitation comes risk—make sure your business is protected from cybercriminals, who are increasingly targeting small businesses (“Be More Cyber Secure,” p. 30).
A well-trained staff is core to delivering a great experience. Safety comes first in staff training, but customer service skills can make the difference between a good—and a great—adventure (“Soft Skills, Solid Impacts,” p. 12). In “Take Guests to a Higher Level” (p. 41), we consider how incorporating a degree of facilitation into your operation can elevate an experience to new heights, too.
Spring training is also a good time to educate your staff on in-house tree assessments to keep your forest healthy and guests safe (“Monitor Your Course Trees: Identifying Possible Weaknesses,” p. 48). Speaking of safety, dive into the helmet-use debate in “Helmets or No Helmets?” (p. 55).
Finally, moving forward oft requires looking backward. You don’t have to be a statistician to find useful takeaways in our 2022 “State of the Industry Report,” with data from 155 operators detailing results of the 2021 season. We encourage you to consume the full report, available free to “Insiders,” i.e., subscribers, at adventureparkinsider.com.
We hope this issue puts a spring in your step as you set goals, train staff, and imagine new opportunities for the coming season. It put a spring in ours putting it together.
—The Editors
