Getting started: Adventure travel

March 26, 2001: 6:21 a.m. ET

Tourists discovering trekking and fishing in exotic locations

NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Growing up in a small Pennsylvania town, Roseann Iovine longed to see the world. Her parents were not lavish vacationers, but Iovine felt somehow, she wanted to be.

Travel became not only her passion, but also her profession. She worked as a sales manager for British Airways for 15 years before starting her adventure travel company, San Diego-based Outdoor Travel Adventures in 1996.

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Good timing has worked to Iovine's advantage and given her budding business a real boost. American travelers are increasingly taking adventure vacations and their appetite for whitewater rafting trips, bicycling tours and mountain-climbing holidays is on the rise.

According to Jerry Mallett, of the Adventure Travel Society, the industry, once run almost entirely by mom and pop operators, has grown dramatically in the last decade. It is expected to continue growing about 7 percent a year between now and 2040.

Iovine has been riding that wave. Her company is expected to be profitable "very soon" and she is expecting to do $1 million in sales next year. Sure, the timing has been impeccable, but she also believes she had the right mix of skills to succeed in the business and a tremendous amount of dedication.

"I've spent pretty much every waking hour and every extra dollar over the last four years to make this business work," said Iovine.

The best places to dog-sled
Back when she was working at British Airways, Iovine was always the person her circle of friends would ask to organize an annual trip because she, more than anyone they knew, had been on outdoor adventures all over the world.

Her work at British Airways afforded her the great luxury of visiting all corners of the earth and it was her habit to search for great hiking, bicycling, kayaking and other outdoor activities wherever she went.

"Everyone knew I was into this sort of thing, so I started planning an annual trip to go skiing or whitewater rafting or something like that," she said. "They became so popular though, I eventually had to put in a separate phone line in the house."

Becoming an adventure travel agent, and doing it well, requires a very specific sort of knowledge. Like, where are the best places to go dog-sledding in the Canadian Rockies. Or who are the best-prepared, most reliable whitewater rafting guides in Costa Rica.

Years of hiking in Africa and bicycling in places like Canada gave Iovine exactly the background to make those recommendations. And, given her friends' interest in taking such trips, she felt there was a market for this type of travel she could sell.

Initially, she kept her day job and worked mornings and the evenings to try to get her venture off the ground. Her first big success came when she pitched a package of adventure tours, including a heli-rafting trip in northern Australia, and marketed them with Qantas Vacations.

Having that level of enthusiasm about the outdoors is a must in the adventure travel game, but Iovine also points out it is important to have some cash on hand and a lot of business sense, too.

Taking the plunge
Her real test came about a year ago when she and her husband, who got a new job in San Diego, moved from the East Coast to the West. It was then that Iovine decided to make a full-time commitment to Outdoor Travel Adventures.

She teamed up with Wendy Pacofsky, who also had a background in adventure travel, and set out to make a success of their small business.

Iovine put her sales and marketing background to work and started networking to get the word out about Outdoor Travel Adventures. One major coup: Oudoor Travel Adventures landed a partnership with San Diego Travel Group and is now the adventure travel branch of the largest travel company in San Diego.

Her new partner also helped her get office space in Point Loma, Calif., adjacent to one of the San Diego Travel Group's several storefront operations. Iovine and Pacofsky spent less than $10,000 on equipment and furnishings for the office, but there were other expenses as well.

Iovine estimates she has spent about $30,000 building and designing the company's Web site. And liability insurance, a must in the adventure travel game, runs $4,000 a year.

Iovine has also been making appearances at outdoor travel expos and conferences to network and spread the word about her growing company.

Iovine recently tallied the total amount of money she has put into the business and discovered she has spent $100,000 of her own money in four years. That investment is about to pay off. The company is about to turn a profit and she is expecting sales in excess of $1 million next year.

Sure, it has been a long road. In addition to the money, Iovine has invested countless hours of her time in the business. Still, what other business owner gets to spend three weeks in Nepal this year meeting with trekking guides so that she can start booking trips there?

"I love participating in the activities that we sell and introducing them to other people," said Iovine. "That is the real reward."