The Adventure Travel Trade Association is hosting the first annual Adventure Travel World Summit in Seattle in an attempt to redefine, reorganize, and galvanize the fragmented adventure travel industry. The newly formed organization has made significant headway in getting itself off the ground, expects more than 40 top executives to speak at the Summit, and boasts an attendee list comprised of many outdoor, adventure travel, and travel companies from around the world.

The speaker list includes executives from Lonely Planet, Orbitz, National Geographic Adventure Magazine, ExOfficio, Off the Beaten Path, Outdoor Industry Association, and America Outdoors.

Shannon Stowell, president of ATTA, told BOSS that he feels the cross-over between the travel and outdoor industries provides some powerful cross-marketing opportunities.

“We’ve worked hard to make strong connections in the outdoor industry,” he said. “At the same time I think that the amount of attention we are receiving from the travel community shows how much weight they place on the importance of adventure travel.”

Both the attendee list and the list of sponsors show that the travel industry sees big opportunities in adventure. Orbitz is one of the primary sponsors and Yahoo! is launching a new adventure travel media product at The Summit. With big names taking notice in this niche market, many outdoor companies have decided it is worth their time and money as well.

The line-up of speakers was selected based on two criteria – the organization wanted either “nuts & bolts practical” workshops, like Yahoo’s Search Engine optimization program, or visionary presentations, like the closing keynote speaker, Thornton May, the World Bank’s Futurist.

Stowell said that The Summit has three main objectives – a high quality learning experience, powerful networking, and “last but not least,” fun. The event will open with a day of actual adventures, with opportunities for activities like sailing, fly-fishing, urban geo-caching, and rafting. “We decided to bring everyone together right out of the gate, and what better way to spark a conversation than by doing what we all love to do first,” said Stowell. “Learning, networking, and fun – if we can bring those three things together, then it’s a big win.”