Death of the relaxing holiday?

Within the lists charting the top 100 places to see before you die or the best 50 travel experiences across the globe, two weeks in a Florida theme-park or on a Majorcan beach reading the latest John Grisham novel are seldom ranked very highly.

Rather, increasing numbers of Britons are looking to be "travellers", not "tourists" for some, if not all, of their four free weeks a year and collect experiences instead of souvenirs.

Swimming with sharks off the Great Barrier Reef, trekking through the Amazon, and even climbing Everest are now the dream holiday activities for middle-England, according to the latest figures reported across the travel industry.

The Association of Independent Tour Operators (AITO) reported that 40,000 Britons took an "adventure" holiday of some description over the course of 2006.

While this figure pales in comparison to the 25 million Britons who went on a package holiday, what is clear is that this number represents significant growth in the sector, even when compared to just five years ago.

Observers cite the growing disposable income now available to us as well as a shift in how we prioritise our spending, with Britons more likely to use their spare cash to fund a break than to pay off their mortgages or overdrafts.

In addition, there is undoubtedly a strong, yet unquantifiable, degree of "one-upmanship" developing across the UK's workplaces and dinner parties, regarding who has taken their family to the most out-of-the-way and exotic destination for their summer break.

With New York, Dubai and Hong Kong joining Prague, Paris and Barcelona as now being seen as feasible destinations for long-weekend breaks, the pressure in on for colleagues to come equipped with tales of exotic locals and near-death experiences when they return to work on a Monday morning.

However, the driving force behind the continued growth in adventurous travel comes not from such middle-aged competitiveness but from Britons over the age of 50, with tour operators reporting a boom in the number of 'gap-years for grown-ups' being taken.

Indeed, the two age groups to have shown the greatest growth in international travel since 1993 are those aged between 55 and 64 (140 per cent increase) and the over-65s (110 per cent increase).

According to a recent survey, 775,000 over-50s have taken an extended holiday of six months or more, with long-haul destinations, including Australia and New Zealand, the preferred choice for these travellers.

Of those planning a break soon, one in five expressed a preference for an adventure holiday in place of taking a cruise or sitting on a beach.

Commenting on the trend, Dave Folye of the Bradford and Bingley, one of many providers of tailored travel insurance for the over-50s, stated: "The main reasons are that we are enjoying better health for longer, and this generation has more money to spend in retirement.

"We have lots of calls from retired people planning holidays that include activities such as swimming with dolphins or scuba diving.

"Many travel for a few months at a time, which used to be more common among those in their twenties or thirties."

Given that recent studies have found that one in five of all Britons claim that they would opt for an adventure holiday rather than a package deal, while only 40,000 actually did so last year, it would appear that people's dreams are still quite far away from reality.

While many of us like to feel that we are true adventurers and shun the image of the typical British tourist, the safer option remains hugely popular, meaning that Britons swimming with sharks, over the next few years at least, can do so in relative peace.