Is to live new experiences within the journey or trips we make in our constant search for harmony and inner peace using tourism as a tool to achieve that purpose.
Experience is an essential object of the journey, and that we as individual beings feel more and more the need to experience a destiny to optimize our experiences of the same and to obtain meanings.
It is no longer enough to offer tranquility, a natural environment, plenty of tourist resources or the beauty of the place. To all this, now we must add experiences. That is a more intense and authentic contact with its inhabitants, innovation, authenticity, surprises, stories and experiences, and emotions. It is not the same to visit a destination as to feel a destination (smells, colors, taste, textures …) and live a destination with its inhabitants. It is necessary to be integrated in the way of life and in the autochthonous culture of each place, impregnating itself with everything intangible towards the creation of a memory that survives after the trip and that can be transmitted to others.
This new trend as an evolution seeks to establish an emotional relationship between the tourist and the inhabitants of the destination, forging a link through experiences and unique sensations.
Experiential Tourism involves a new class of multisensory and multichannel tourist, who seeks to live the destiny in a different way. Choose your destination based on the experience you want to live, and use the new technologies for it.
This new tourist of the 21st century is much more experienced and, therefore, more demanding. Due to factors such as social changes, the reorganization of work, the emergence of new destinations, the reduction of air fares and the appearance of new Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), the tourist has experienced a great change in their needs, expectations, and behaviors.
Currently, the tourist is more concerned with the quality of service, the authenticity of the social and the environment to such an extent that he does not mind paying more to see these needs met. Also, less and less use of intermediaries and organizes its trips of independent form, using the new technologies, the comments, suggestions, and recommendations of the people of its surroundings.
Experiential Tourism is not just the trend of the future. It is also the tendency of the Present. The sector is already beginning a process of transformation towards products and services focused on creating experiences and interacting with the tourist in a more direct, human and personalized way. Today, all destinations and companies that intend to stay within the tourism framework will have to adapt to these changes and focus their strategies on the consolidation of this new mega-trend.
VISION QUEST
There’s excitement in the air of Costa Rica about the newest heart pounding, life-threatening, high-level experiential thriller! It’s called Vision Quest: The mission of visionQUEST EXtreme Adventure is to provide leadership in the expansion of adventure-based transformative experiences. vQ has stirred real interest in using a new set of transformative methods as a rite of passage. The original Yepez-Maxwell model is an interdisciplinary concept that focuses on masculine consciousness expansion while navigating high-risk extreme adventure environmental conditions.
Each individual goes through a sequence of innovative, adaptive, trust-building exercises, initiative problems while traversing dynamic natural elements. Two basic goals are constantly sought and reinforced: 1. that the individuals as a group learn to solve problems more creatively and efficiently, and 2. that individuals and the group as a whole learn to overcome preconceived barriers to their agreed upon objectives. Each vQ Trek has similar experiential units using cooperative group strategies. Two- to three-day adventure trips, which utilize the environment of the unexplored jungle to learn program objectives, valuable as peak experiences where individuals pull it all together.
The momentum of word-of-mouth knowledge of the existing vQ program remains strong. vQ developed customized training around the themes of encouraging innovation, consciousness, adaptability/change initiatives, leadership, risk-taking motivation, as well a more standard team-building. The safety of the activity base is critically important. We assessed strengths and weaknesses, look at our mission, set objectives, and design strategies and action plan to make the objectives happen.
After some appreciation, we arrived at this statement of our mission: “The mission of vQ is to be the leading organization helping others use extreme adventure experiences as a catalyst for personal/professional growth and change.” AJ Maxwell
vQ takes place in the world’s amazing wilderness settings. The aims of vQ are to foster personal growth and social skills of participants using challenging expeditions in the outdoors. “These adventures are designed for people to compete against themselves, not against each other. Danny Yepez hopes to develop ‘a sense of conquest without the humiliation of the conquered.’
vQ offers a wide variety of fun and exciting outdoor activities. Trekking through the unexplored jungles of Costa Rica [the world’s most biodiverse locations] while barefoot, the risks, of course, are numerous, but arguably the greatest one is receiving a poisonous bite. The potential rewards, however, are just as spine-tingling as the risks. “Our participants describe the change that they go through by experiencing nature from a very different perspective and pushing through their ultimate fears,” says Yepez. “It’s a very changing experience, very humbling. They get a greater appreciation for all aspects of our life and for our place in the world. It really is an experience that lives with them forever.”
By integrating aspects such as the culture and traditions of local people, the tourist feels immersed in their way of life, and their feelings towards the destination will be positive.
Want to “Experience Costa Rica like never before? CONTACT US for a personal one on one interview to determine your right of passage —————————–>
