High end, big dollar extreme travel is still going places
It was not long ago that the catastrophic loss of the Titan submersible captured the attention of the whole world. It was a scene straight out of a horror movie — a submersible with five souls on board implodes, deep below the ocean’s surface, at the resting place of the infamous Titanic.
It highlighted the enormous risks and uncertainties that await those who pursue such activities at exorbitant price tags.
After the Titanic sank on its maiden voyage across the Atlantic in 1912, governments on both sides of the ocean took a hard look at whether more could have been done to protect the some 2,200 people aboard, including the more than 1,500 who died.
The result was the Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS). Passed in 1914, its framework stands to this day, with many of its rules directly evolving from the Titanic tragedy.
With the implosion of the submersible Titan as it dived down to the wreck of the Titanic , killing all five people aboard, experts thought there may be a push for rules governing new high end, big dollar tourism of the kind being practiced, by OceanGate Expeditions, the company that ran the Titan and others.
That has not come to pass unto this day, and, if one thought that the Titan’s descent into an abyss of no return would put a halt to the terrifying realities and the physics at play in these extreme environments, think again… months after the sub tragedy, extreme tourism is… more popular than ever.
It would seem that there are people, extremely rich people who look for an authentic, inspirational experience, however dangerous it is, and are perhaps even prepared to die on vacation. The five passengers on Titan paying $250k each went away like that.
The OceanGate disaster has done nothing to slow extreme tourism’s growth. In fact, the business is expected to grow 15.2% annually through 2030, with 90% of Adventure Travel Trade Association businesses reporting revenue increases last year. World View, a startup taking travelers to the edge of space in pressurized capsules attached to weather balloons at $50k per seat, has already sold out its 2024 flights.
The fascination for high-risk travel is indeed baffling. It’s all in brain chemistry and shows of status, per The Conversation: Risky behavior can elicit feelings of euphoria and a sense of personal transformation. Plus, the ‘Insta-worthy’ adventures can double as status symbols.
As the boom continues, social bragging rights are getting harder to collect – after all thousands of people now visit Antarctica annually and that number is growing - despite the fact that four-cruise ship tourists were killed in three incidents at the end of 2022. and multiple people have been to both space and the bottom of the Mariana Trench.
It seems to some people that if any extreme activity was safe, its not an adventure.
Source: External
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