the behavioural characteristics of soft and hard adventure have been examined in thisnsection. the heterogeneous nature of adventure tourists has also been explored using the soft- hard adventure tourists ,this continuum has proved useful. However as noted earlier, people's perceptions of adventure vary. whilst the leisure and tourism industies may classify the experience of a hot air balloon ride as soft adventure, on the first timed and who is of a nervous disposition would probably feel sheer ppanic. from this person's point of view the whole experience may feel like a hard adventure; to conclude this section, it seems apparent that people are driven to participate in different hard and soft adventures by several factors; experience, competence, skill and personality.