Viristar’s Director, Jeff Baierlein, led a session at ITB Berlin 2025 on ‘Adventure Tourism and the Science of Safety: Applying Current Research in Systems-Based Risk Management to Travel Experiences’. This presentation took place during the 20th Green & Blue Tourism Business Forum at the ITB Lighthouse Stage.
The session explored the importance of applying academic safety research to the adventure tourism industry. It provided a historical overview of incident causation theories spanning the past century, covering topics such as human factors and integrated safety culture. The discussion included both outdated and modern theoretical models, such as the domino theory, fault tree analysis (fishbone diagram), the epidemiological “Swiss Cheese” model, and complex systems theory-based approaches.
Additionally, the presentation introduced incident causation models including AcciMap and the Risk Domains model, and addressed limitations of probabilistic risk assessments. It highlighted how contemporary, well-developed theoretical frameworks integrate socio-technical systems theory and demonstrated how tour operators, regardless of size, can apply systems thinking to improve both safety and quality on a global scale.
Additional Information
Additional opportunities are available for adventure tourism enterprises to further explore how they can implement strategies to enhance the safety and quality of their offerings worldwide.
For more information on approaches and strategies for successfully anticipating and addressing risks, the textbook Risk Management for Outdoor Programs: A Guide to Safety in Outdoor Education, Recreation, and Adventure provides essential knowledge.
Those looking for more comprehensive training can enroll in the Risk Management for Outdoor Programs course. This 40-hour online course spanning one month offers an in-depth exploration of these concepts and guides participants in developing a customized, systems-informed safety improvement plan for their own programs. Designed for adventure tourism operators and related businesses, the course delivers expert training in best practices for risk management.
