Adrenaline junkies, listen up. If you’re looking for adventurous holiday activities to spice up your next trip, the good news is that you’re spoiled for choice. From cliff camping to climbing the Swiss Alps, risky adventures can make for unforgettable experiences. The not-so-good news is that, unfortunately, they may cost you more than a limb.
But which holiday activity is the most dangerous and death-defying?
To find out which travel activities stack up the highest risk, solo travel website Nomadic Yak has created an index using stuff like fatality rate data from peer-reviewed journals, industry experts, risk and injury assessment experts and government organisations, with a focus on areas like the US, UK, Australia and Europe.
The numbers are in, and the most dangerous holiday activity is… mountain and rock climbing, with one death in every 3,125 climbers.
This is partly due to the rising interest in scaling the world’s magnificent mountain range. In April this year, UK climbing legend Noel Hanna – who had summitted Everest ten times – died whilst descending Mount Annapurna. The mountain apparently has a fatality rate of 32 percent, much higher than Everest.
In fact, mountainous areas are pretty dangerous overall. Other rock-related activities that made the danger list were paragliding, mountain biking and hiking, which came in at fifth, sixth and seventh place specifically. Even celebrities are not immune: just last week, former Scotland rugby player Greig Oliver died after a paragliding accident in South Africa. And last month, it was confirmed that actor Julian Sands died in a hiking accident on Mount Baldy in California.
So if you want to steer clear of risky activities, you just need to avoid mountains… right? Afraid not: activities like cave diving, horseback riding, skydiving, motorcycle riding and the famous Running of the Bulls festival in Spain were also on the list.
Heck, even eating can be surprisingly fatal. And driving a car is apparently more dangerous than taking a submersible tour. Makes you think, huh?
Here is the list of the 20 deadliest tourist activities, according to Nomadic Yak.
- Mountain and Rock Climbing
- Cave Diving
- Driving
- Horseback Riding
- Paragliding
- Mountain Biking
- Hiking
- Motorcycle Riding
- Skydiving
- Running of the Bulls
- Eating (Food Poisoning)
- Jet Skiing
- Binge Drinking (Alcohol Poisoning)
- Swimming (Open Water)
- Surfing
- Sightseeing Flights (Plane and Helicopter)
- White-Water Rafting
- Submersible Tours
- Snorkelling
- Boating (Motor)
Don’t fret, though: although this list may seem daunting, it’s worth noting that even the most dangerous activity here only has a fatality rate of 0.032 percent. There are plenty of riskier things you can do without even leaving the house.
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