SINGAPORE — Having been a rock climber for over a decade, Mr Daniel Soh has dislodged a suitcase-sized boulder and watched someone dislocate an elbow after a bad fall. 

The 24-year-old recent university graduate said: “Over the years, I’ve witnessed a few very scary incidents that have made me reconsider whether I truly want to actively engage with outdoor rock climbing.” 

However, he said that he has come to understand how much he enjoys the sport and has accepted the associated risks. He is learning to manage the risks involved. 

Mr Soh is among a growing group of Singaporeans who are taking up more adventurous activities when they are overseas, such as trekking, diving and rock climbing. 

With the reopening of borders from the Covid-19 pandemic, people are looking to make up for lost time and the demand for travel has grown, especially trips that appeal to thrill-seekers. 

Grand View Research, a consulting firm based in the United States, has estimated that the global adventure tourism market size was valued at US$282.1 billion (about S$390 billion) in 2021 and is projected to expand at a rate of 15.2 per cent from 2022 to 2030. 

In Singapore, a check with seven travel agencies here that specialise in adventure tours found that six have seen an increase in the number of bookings for these activities.

It is not uncommon for people to pursue activities that offer an adrenaline rush while on holiday — going on rollercoaster rides, bungee-jumping, sky-diving, river rafting, mountain climbing, skiing and other more extreme sporting activities have been attempted. 

The risk is always there that things may go wrong.

Recently, two Singaporeans died after their canoe capsized along a river in South Africa. In May, a Singaporean climber went missing on Mount Everest and in April, three people from Singapore died when a camper van crashed in New Zealand.

Now, more than it was before the Covid-19 pandemic, some travel agencies specialising in adventure trips said that they are seeing greater demand for overseas adventures. One company reported as high as a 35 per cent increase for bookings. 

Tour agency Brothers International Tours has 350 travellers signed up for its 2023 and 2024 itineraries to places such as Nepal, Bhutan and India. These are for trekking, mountain climbing and overland safari in a Jeep, for instance.  

SgTrek, a travel agency that leads trekking trips to Malaysia, Indonesia and Nepal, said that its Nepal and India slots are fully booked for the rest of this year and it is already taking bookings for 2024. 

Its director Vijay Kumar said: “As travel restrictions have been lifted, we have seen a significant increase in the popularity of adventurous trips. Our hiking trips to Mount Kinabalu in Malaysia, Rinjani in Indonesia, and Nepal's Everest Base Camp and Kashmir Great Lakes have been particularly popular.”

At Beyond Expeditions — an agency that organises adventure tours to Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and India — travellers may choose to go horse-riding in Mongolian pastures, for example.

Asked why more people are seeking thrills, Beyond Expeditions’ director Scott Tay said: “I firmly believe that it’s because more tourists have transformed into adventurers, tired of the mainstream sightseeing tours… they want some kind of transformative experience from travelling.”

Beyond Expeditions now has 50 to 80 bookings each month, compared to the eight to 15 before the pandemic. 

Ms Joanne Soo, founder and director of Ace Adventure Expeditions, said that some people are looking to "push their body and mind to absolute limits”.

Back in 2014, the travel agency — which offers adventure trips to places such as the Himalayas, Taiwan and Tanzania — started all-women trekking trips when a group of women trekkers climbed Tanzania’s Mount Kilimanjaro in celebration of International Women’s Day in March. 

Since the borders reopened, the agency has been seeing a “constant stream of requests to join overseas treks”, Ms Soo said. 

SAFETY PRECAUTIONS 

In the excitement of planning for such escapades abroad, holiday-makers and thrill-seekers may put safety on the back burner and they are advised to take precautions. 

International SOS, a security service firm, said: “Adventurous trips entail inherent risks influenced by personal profiles and destination-specific hazards like terrain, weather and wildlife encounters.

“Prior to embarking, travellers should assess their individual capabilities, medical profiles and consider the activity type.”

Those who have heart conditions or have a serious lack of outdoor experience, for instance, should be mindful of taking part in physically rigorous activities or activities that require some level of skills.

For trips that involve trekking high-altitude mountains, acute mountain sickness is one risk. Extreme weather conditions and treacherous terrain also pose a safety risk to travellers who are more accustomed to urban environments than the wild.

There are also risks involved in going underwater.

DiveWhere, a company specialising in scuba tours, said that scuba diving comes with inherent risks, including decompression sickness, marine life encounters and equipment failure. 

To manage the risks involved in overseas adventures, travel agencies hire experienced guides, prepare emergency action plans and brief participants before departure. 

Mr Ganga Budhathoki, director of Brothers International Tours, said that the firm carefully paces trekking trips and provide oxygen where needed to prevent acute mountain sickness. 

When a trekker falls sick, the firm can arrange a helicopter for evacuation. 

Besides precautions taken by travel agencies, participants of the trips must also play their part to mitigate the risks. 

Mr Budhathoki advises all participants to buy travel insurance before embarking on overseas trips. 

Additionally, travellers must be physically ready before venturing to the mountains. 

“All customers need basic training like climbing a staircase, jogging and walking at Bukit Timah Hill for more adventurous and risky expeditions,” he suggested of what people can do before these trips. 

They should not only prepare physically but mentally as well. The shock or trauma of a serious injury can affect not just the individual but fellow travellers, for example.

Ms Soo of Ace Adventure Expeditions said that travellers must be prepared for the possibility of injury or even fatality on the mountain. 

“This is not to discourage them from climbing but rather to impress upon them the gravity of their decision to climb a mountain,” she added. 

Risks are ubiquitous, even for experienced adventurers. Despite being an experienced climber, Mr Soh the graduate has come close to danger a few times. 

On one occasion, after reaching the top of a climbing route on the Italian Riviera, he was preparing for a descent when his climbing partner dropped a crucial rappel device. 

Thankfully, the rappel device wedged between two rocks during its fall and they were able to retrieve it for the descent.

Having experienced his share of chilling incidents, Mr Soh puts safety as a priority and is wary of complacency as “the primary reason for most climbing accidents”. 

“Sometimes, knowing that there’s a risk of a fall or a dodgy piece of protection adds a thrill to the climb, but I’d much rather know that I can come back safely at the end of the day,” he said.