During five years (July 1, 2004 to June 30, 2009) 39 people died in what are recorded as workplace activities - however the actual number is likely to be much higher as recreational deaths were not included.
Adventure tourism includes anything from abseiling to water skiing and is worth $3 billion to the economy.
Today Labour Minister Kate Wilkinson announced that the Government would require adventure tourism businesses to be registered - a key recommendation of a review of the sector released today.
The review was sparked by the drowning of English tourist Emily Jordan in 2008 while riverboarding in Central Otago's Kawarau River.
Other tourists have been killed in recent years while jetboating and quad biking and figures in today's report showed over the five years seven people died while canyoning - a sport where people slide down waterways, abseil and rappel down waterfalls and leap into pools and a further five died while diving.
Three people were killed while swimming with dolphins or whales - one of several activities not governed by any guidelines or standards.
The report said there were gaps in safety in the industry and inconsistent information collected. Serious accidents were under-reported and safety was managed inconsistently across activities and government agencies.
There was also a reliance on recreational-focussed standards and training - that was when staff were qualified at all. It also said there were issues with using seasonal workers so it was hard to retain knowledge, safety auditing needed to be improved and businesses were not always required to tell clients of risks involved.
The review recommended a package of measures be introduced to stop people and New Zealand's reputation being harmed.
Mrs Wilkinson said it was "scary" that just about anyone could set up an adventure tourism business without going through any hoops and that would change with registration. That would require businesses to have a strong risk management plan and they would undergo safety audits.
About 1500 businesses would be affected, and some could be closed down.
"To be honest if they are operating unsafely they should be shut down until they can operate safely," Mrs Wilkinson said.
Penalties and registration fees were yet to be decided.
The Labour Department would look further at some of the recommendations including setting up an industry-led body to look at a safety management framework for the sector and setting up a register of government-accredited adventure tourism related safety auditing schemes.
It would also look at if instructors and guides should be required to hold qualifications and would have the tricky job of defining who would be required to register - though Mrs Wilkinson said it would focus on commercial businesses, and schools and clubs should be unaffected.
The department would report back by the end of November.
Several recommendations would not be adopted including removing any businesses with poor records from benefiting from taxpayer-funded promotions and linking ACC payments to safety records. Another was to expand the rules-based approach taken under maritime and civil aviation laws to other areas and increasing inspection under the Health and Safety in Employment Act.
Mrs Wilkinson said she did not want to stifle businesses.
"We don't want to take the adventure out of adventure tourism, but we want to get the balance right so there is integrity in the system," she said.
"That's why we've picked on the registration scheme which we think will be affordable and will actually give the benefits that New Zealanders and tourists want to be confident and reassure that our adventure tourism is as safe as possible."
Tourism bodies have welcomed the changes.
