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Matching destination difficulty and participant capability in outdoor recreation and tourism: role of third-party certifications for 15 activities in 52 countries

Ralf Buckley Orcid Logo, Sonya Underdahl Orcid Logo, Carl Cater Orcid Logo, Elsa Pereira, Mary-Ann Cooper Orcid Logo, Meisha Liddon Orcid Logo, Diane Westaway, Adele Doran Orcid Logo, Zoë Jiabo Zhang Orcid Logo, Patrick O'Keeffe, Hanieh Khatiyoun, Rob Hales, Susan Houge Mackenzie Orcid Logo, Gill Pomfret Orcid Logo

Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism, Volume: 52, Start page: 100983

Swansea University Author: Carl Cater Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.1016/j.jort.2025.100983

Abstract

For safety and satisfaction in outdoor recreation and tourism, participant or client capability must match destination difficulty. Social trends have increased demand by inexperienced clients. Tour operators and tourists rely on third-party difficulty gradings and participant skill certifications. T...

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Published in: Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism
ISSN: 2213-0780
Published: Elsevier BV 2025
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa71001
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last_indexed 2026-01-13T05:32:13Z
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spelling 2026-01-12T11:48:12.2985242 v2 71001 2025-11-28 Matching destination difficulty and participant capability in outdoor recreation and tourism: role of third-party certifications for 15 activities in 52 countries c03e617775c3e446fe240c1380954004 0000-0002-6673-0677 Carl Cater Carl Cater true false 2025-11-28 CBAE For safety and satisfaction in outdoor recreation and tourism, participant or client capability must match destination difficulty. Social trends have increased demand by inexperienced clients. Tour operators and tourists rely on third-party difficulty gradings and participant skill certifications. These operate as autonomous information sources within destination matching. We analyse their significance using iterative thematic analysis of participant observations by 14 coauthors for 15 activities in 52 countries. We find that certifications are used at 5 scales: destination, infrastructure, tour operator, guide or instructor, and individual clients. Currently, guide certification is most widespread. We propose that site grading and client certifications may expand, with increasing regulation and training. Drivers of expansion include insurance, marketing, adoption of outdoor recreation and tourism in healthcare, and legal permitting and insurance requirements for access to public and private parks and other lands. Journal Article Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism 52 100983 Elsevier BV 2213-0780 Mental-health; Wellbeing; Nature; Destination; Safety; Satisfaction 1 12 2025 2025-12-01 10.1016/j.jort.2025.100983 COLLEGE NANME Management School COLLEGE CODE CBAE Swansea University Another institution paid the OA fee 2026-01-12T11:48:12.2985242 2025-11-28T10:43:54.2860329 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences School of Management - Business Management Ralf Buckley 0000-0003-0442-5818 1 Sonya Underdahl 0000-0002-5069-4819 2 Carl Cater 0000-0002-6673-0677 3 Elsa Pereira 4 Mary-Ann Cooper 0000-0002-2377-6499 5 Meisha Liddon 0009-0008-3017-7911 6 Diane Westaway 7 Adele Doran 0000-0002-4964-6908 8 Zoë Jiabo Zhang 0009-0004-4607-4619 9 Patrick O'Keeffe 10 Hanieh Khatiyoun 11 Rob Hales 12 Susan Houge Mackenzie 0000-0001-5660-6325 13 Gill Pomfret 0000-0003-1161-7703 14 71001__35959__75ad35066d2446cd8e092c5688241fb2.pdf 71001.VoR.pdf 2026-01-12T11:46:27.3851471 Output 1742623 application/pdf Version of Record true © 2025 The Authors. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license. true eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
title Matching destination difficulty and participant capability in outdoor recreation and tourism: role of third-party certifications for 15 activities in 52 countries
spellingShingle Matching destination difficulty and participant capability in outdoor recreation and tourism: role of third-party certifications for 15 activities in 52 countries
Carl Cater
title_short Matching destination difficulty and participant capability in outdoor recreation and tourism: role of third-party certifications for 15 activities in 52 countries
title_full Matching destination difficulty and participant capability in outdoor recreation and tourism: role of third-party certifications for 15 activities in 52 countries
title_fullStr Matching destination difficulty and participant capability in outdoor recreation and tourism: role of third-party certifications for 15 activities in 52 countries
title_full_unstemmed Matching destination difficulty and participant capability in outdoor recreation and tourism: role of third-party certifications for 15 activities in 52 countries
title_sort Matching destination difficulty and participant capability in outdoor recreation and tourism: role of third-party certifications for 15 activities in 52 countries
author_id_str_mv c03e617775c3e446fe240c1380954004
author_id_fullname_str_mv c03e617775c3e446fe240c1380954004_***_Carl Cater
author Carl Cater
author2 Ralf Buckley
Sonya Underdahl
Carl Cater
Elsa Pereira
Mary-Ann Cooper
Meisha Liddon
Diane Westaway
Adele Doran
Zoë Jiabo Zhang
Patrick O'Keeffe
Hanieh Khatiyoun
Rob Hales
Susan Houge Mackenzie
Gill Pomfret
format Journal article
container_title Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism
container_volume 52
container_start_page 100983
publishDate 2025
institution Swansea University
issn 2213-0780
doi_str_mv 10.1016/j.jort.2025.100983
publisher Elsevier BV
college_str Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchytype
hierarchy_top_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
department_str School of Management - Business Management{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Management - Business Management
document_store_str 1
active_str 0
description For safety and satisfaction in outdoor recreation and tourism, participant or client capability must match destination difficulty. Social trends have increased demand by inexperienced clients. Tour operators and tourists rely on third-party difficulty gradings and participant skill certifications. These operate as autonomous information sources within destination matching. We analyse their significance using iterative thematic analysis of participant observations by 14 coauthors for 15 activities in 52 countries. We find that certifications are used at 5 scales: destination, infrastructure, tour operator, guide or instructor, and individual clients. Currently, guide certification is most widespread. We propose that site grading and client certifications may expand, with increasing regulation and training. Drivers of expansion include insurance, marketing, adoption of outdoor recreation and tourism in healthcare, and legal permitting and insurance requirements for access to public and private parks and other lands.
published_date 2025-12-01T05:34:11Z
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