POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE
Forget sightseeing. From skywalks to ziplines, vacations are now about site ’experiencing.’
Peer across a vast metropolis from the sky, gaze up at roaring cascades, walk to the edge of ancient ruins — and hear the resounding “meh.”
Just visiting tourist sites is not enough these days as more of the world’s natural and manmade wonders up the ante on sightseeing.
Tourists at the Great Wall of China have been able to toboggan down the Mutianyu section since the ’90s. For five years, visitors to the CN Tower have had the option of hanging off the edge 356 metres up. And now tourists can zip line through the canopies of Angkor Wat in Cambodia or closer to home across Niagara Falls on the new “MistRider” attraction — travelling 67 metres in the air at speed reaching more than 70 km/h.
“Looking at stuff is cool, but if you aren’t attaching an experience to it, it doesn’t have the same weight in people’s memories,” says Tom Benson, CEO of WildPlay Element Parks, which opened the Niagara zip line this summer.
It’s the latest in extreme additions to the world’s natural and man-made wonders popping up in an age when Google Earth imagery and Instagram galleries show everything with the swipe of a finger. It’s not site seeing anymore — it’s site experiencing.
For many in the travel industry, “souped-up” sites are a way of engaging with tech-savvy, screen-addicted younger generations.
WildPlay used to operate under the adage “Leave the Game Boy at home — you’re going to need both hands,” a phrase aimed at young travellers that still resonates today, though “Game Boy” might work better as “iPhone,” says Benson.
“If you don’t have something that has enough pop to it, you’re not going to reach through all the noise,” he says.
Butterfield & Robinson trip planner Nathan Lane has also found creative ways to entice younger travellers, strategies he dubs “learning by accident.”
“We can’t go to the Colosseum and give them a two-hour lecture,” he says.
Instead, he’ll plan a scavenger hunt around the grounds or trip to a “Gladiator school” where the sightseeing becomes a kind of game.
Extreme thrills including zip lines take that idea even further, but were harder to come by even just a decade ago, he says.
“Ten years ago, if you wanted to do a zip line it was only in Costa Rica.”
Michael Brein, a Seattle psychologist specializing in travel, has watched white-knuckle thrills grow more commonplace over the years.
“I definitely see a trend toward trying to find more exciting activities,” he says. “The peak thrill is to do something as scary as possible yet without being dangerous. That’s in the service of building self-esteem and self-confidence. It’s not just having fun, it’s trying to stretch one’s capabilities and see what one can achieve.”
It’s no coincidence these “soupedup” sites are growing in popularity in the digital age. We “crave” genuine interaction, he says. Sometimes that manifests itself in white-knuckle thrills.
“We think we want to go to Paris and sit around the cafés and meet people, but what do we discover? We see that all the tourists and the Parisians are sitting, peering into their iPhones and other electronica,” he says.
“It is no wonder that we are desperate to have real, genuine, true peak experiences that these extreme adventures offer.” You can’t climb the Great Pyramid of Giza or the Taj Mahal, but there are plenty of natural and man-made marvels ready for a wild ride. Niagara Falls Forget the “Maid of the Mist” — she’s too slow. Thrill-seeking tourists to Niagara Falls can now fly high on the “MistRider” zip line attraction, which sends four riders down parallel cables in harnesses at speeds of more than 70 km/h with views of the falls. Zip lines are increasingly popular, with the pulleys and harnesses around the world near the ruins of Angkor Wat, the canyons of Mexico and the Adirondack Mountains. Height: 67 metres Cost: $49 Link: wildplay.com/niagarafalls CN Tower For nearly 20 years, the glass floor was enough. The 2.5-inch thick glass panels thrilled and terrified CN Tower visitors since 1994. Since 2011, more adventurous sightseers have been able seek greater thrills outside the tower with EdgeWalk, the handsfree full-circle walk around the main pod above the 360 Restaurant. Height: 356 metres Cost: $195 Link: edgewalkcntower.ca Macau Tower The tower in the district of Sé, Macau, China, ups the ante on Toronto’s famous tower. Macau sees the EdgeWalk, and raises Toronto a bungee jump from 233 metres. The tower was featured on The Amazing Race and holds the record for “Highest Commercial Bungee Jump Facility” according to Guinness World Records. Height: 233 metres Cost: $556 Link: macautower.com.mo/toweradventure Canton Tower A 30-metre drop won’t sound like much to anyone who’s been on the Drop Tower at Canada’s Wonderland. But Guangdong, China’s Canton Tower takes it to the next level: the nearly 500-metre-high level. Dubbed the “world’s highest thrill ride,” the Sky Drop doesn’t last long but offers brilliant views from the third-tallest tower in the world. Height: 485 metres Cost: $59 Link: cantontower.com/en/Sightseeing.aspx?code=0303 Glacier Skywalk Walking up to the ever-shrinking Athabasca Glacier at the Colombia Icefield in Jasper, Alta., was no longer enough. The $21-million Glacier Skywalk, a glass U-shaped observation deck jutting out from the edge of the soaring Rockies, opened to the public in 2014. Height: 280 metres Cost: $32 Link: brewster.ca/attractions-sightseeing/glacier-skywalk