The Adventure and Activities Regulations (2011) Two months to deadline. Is the sector ready? Will it make any difference?

Date: 10 September 2014 Time: 12.30 pm

In Dec 2010, a review into adventure and outdoor tourism safety concluded that there were gaps in the safety management framework which allow businesses to operate at different standards than those generally accepted. The end result of the review, amongst other recommendations, was the requirement to have external safety audits for parts of the adventure tourism sector. This became the adventure activity regulations (2011). The regulation affects approximately 350 businesses. Currently 80 have passed an external audit and are registered with WorkSafe. The regulation comes into force on 1 November 2014. This talk covers the process behind the review, the recommendations and explores the impact of the regulations for the adventure tourism sector.

About the presenter
An MBA graduate from Victoria University of Wellington, Paul Chaplow has been working in the tourism and outdoor adventure sector since 1989. Through the early 1990’s Paul managed North America’s largest sea kayak company. The trips were week-long, high-end expeditions in British Columbia, Canada and Baja, Mexico. In the late 90’s Paul managed the remote Knight Inlet Lodge, overseeing its transition from a fishing lodge to a world-class ecotourism destination that specialised in grizzly bear and orca viewing.

As CEO of Outdoors New Zealand, Paul represented the outdoor recreation/education sector throughout the review of risk management and safety in the adventure and outdoor commercial sectors in 2009/2010. At present Paul is a Tourism Business Advisor for Qualmark, and contracts as an Industry Advocate to the Tourism Industry Association. Currently he is delivering a series of adventure activity workshops around the country to assist operators in passing their safety audits before the November 1 deadline.

Any queries please email: tourism@vuw.ac.nz