Benefits of multiadventure school trips
As we have already seen, one of the ways to describe multiadventure school trips is as active tourism. This very definition holds one of the keys to understanding the importance of undertaking trips of this kind with groups of children and young people. At ages ranging from primary school through to university, children and young people tend to travel regularly with their families. In these cases it is common for the destination to remain the same from year to year, as it allows families to maintain their routines whilst offering days of rest and a break from the familiar environment. This is precisely why school trips and excursions are so important. They offer the possibility of a type of tourism that differs from what students experience in their everyday lives, and connect them with the concept of active tourism.
We understand active tourism to be tourism that takes place in contact with nature, carrying out activities that put us in connection with it. Active tourism offers a close bond between the natural environment and enjoyment. In this way, a series of fundamental values are transmitted that will be essential to the growth of younger generations. The older they become, the more aware they will be of the environment in which they live and of the possibilities it offers. Respect and care for that environment will lead to better-protected surroundings and to an increase in tourism skills and awareness. In this way, multiadventure school trips and active tourism reveal themselves not merely as a way of rewarding or rounding off a school year, but as a means of transmitting values and generating genuine learning.
Multiadventure school trips: the importance of sport
Multiadventure school trips are often seen simply as a way to enjoy nature and fill a travel itinerary. As we have already noted, there are many benefits associated with these trips. One that is rarely mentioned is that multiadventure activities are, to a large degree, sports. Alternative sports, different from the usual ones, rarely seen outside a natural setting — but sports nonetheless. In the daily routine of a primary or secondary school student, the range of sports practised is quite limited. This is understandable, as the necessary equipment must be affordable and the focus is on ensuring that the most widely recognised and complete sports are what students learn. Multiadventure sports stand out for several reasons.
First, because they call upon skills and abilities that are not practised in other sports. Climbing or rafting are not common in physical education classes — in fact they are almost impossible to include. A multiadventure trip therefore offers the chance to discover and enjoy them. Second, they not only develop different physical skills, but also new mental abilities. Archery, for example, is highly beneficial for sustaining attention. Climbing improves decision-making skills. Hiking instils patience and a sense of calm. Thus, the multiadventure sports we can enjoy on school trips transmit as many or more values as conventional sports. They are, in short, a fun and different way of staying fit both physically and mentally — and perhaps, why not, the starting point of a new sporting passion.
Multiadventure school trips: learning in nature
All information we seek about multiadventure activities and trips and active tourism highlights the important role played by the natural environment. Nature is the space in which multiadventure activities take place and with which a relationship of learning and respect is established. A multiadventure school trip is one of the finest opportunities to build a different relationship between the child and the natural world. The majority of the population lives in urban environments, somewhat removed from natural spaces. A multiadventure school trip opens a window to other settings — new places in which to develop as an individual and to discover different ways of relating to the environment. In the daily routine of city life, there are few occasions on which a group of schoolchildren comes into contact with nature.
This is precisely why a school trip of this kind is so important. Multiadventure and active tourism activities open a window, for several days, onto the natural environment that surrounds and sustains us. We discover new places of tourist and cultural interest, and everything they have to offer — from mountain landscapes to coastal zones. It is important to convey the idea that the natural world is a place from which we can draw enjoyment and fun, and also that, whether we prefer one setting or another, all natural spaces must be respected and cared for, since all of them form part of our environment and of the balance in which we live. Multiadventure school trips leave a lasting memory of fun and learning set against a uniquely beautiful landscape.
Multiadventure school trips
Find all the information about how our multiadventure school trips work on the following pages:
