Tourist or Traveller?
- Tasnia Mozammel
- Oct 25, 2021
- 2 min read
There's a difference between a tourist and a traveller. Which are you?
For the longest time, my instagram bio read the quote (followed by multiple emojis), "'There's a difference between touring and travelling.' I am a traveller."
Travellers and tourists are both people who travel to different locations. However, the difference is that they have different connotations and that one is a broader term than the other.
All tourists are technically travellers, but not all travellers are tourists.
The Tourist
Tourists are specifically people who temporarily travel to another location most often seeking pleasurable experiences as the primary purpose of the trip.
Key examples of 'touring' would comprise holidays or educational trips that may enable a taste of the environment (culture, people, art, food, music, architecture, etc.) unique in its specific time during the period of visit. Tourism is usually short-term as opposed to travelling.
The Traveller
Travelling itself means going from one place to another, hence, differentiates from touring where returning "home" is expected after a certain duration. Travelling also most often refers to long journeys, almost nomadic, as opposed to short-term trips of tourism.
When describing travellers, there are a multitude of categories to consider. For instance, expats (those who reside in different countries than of their origin or nationality due to work), travel for business, education, and even more complex of situations such as the Push-Pull theory in Migration Studies. Regardless, the encounters of the traveller contrast from those of a tourist as a traveller is bound to develop a deeper understanding and connection with the environment, most often due to the longevity of their stay, which enables diverse experiences throughout an unspecified time as opposed to particular ones within an established setting and time-period.
"Fire in the Ocean Blue," Bahrain (September 2021).
There's a difference between a tourist and a traveller. Which are you?
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