Travel vs. Tourism

Journal 3 – Is there a difference between tourism and travel? Use Iyer’s introduction and one of the other texts we have read as well as Rick Steeve’s definition of faithful travel to make your best argument.

 

        I have never really thought about the difference between traveling and tourism till this class. Sometimes I think that a lot of people have a negative connotation against tourism. I would not consider it to be a bad thing because everyone has their own way of making their trip as memorable as possible. In Roughing It by Mark Twain, he made the simple things seem so interesting and enjoyable. For example, he writes about a particular bush stating, “It is an imposing monarch of the forest in exquisite miniature, is the "sage-brush." Its foliage is a grayish green, and gives that tint to desert and mountain. It smells like our domestic sage, and “sage-tea" made from it tastes like the sage-tea which all boys are so well acquainted with” (Twain 15). Traveling allows people to admire things that we would not necessarily be aware if we were traveling as tourist. Traveling is a way to immerse people into another culture and tourism is focusing more on the museums, sculptures, paintings, etc. I think tourism makes it difficult to look at our outside surroundings and not focus on the fascinating culture that is happening around us.

  

      I think traveling is a way to help find who we truly are, because learning different cultures and seeing new experiences can really change a person’s perspective. For example, I love when Iyer states, “We travel, initially, to lose ourselves; and we travel, next, to find ourselves. We travel to open our hearts and eyes and learn more about the world than our newspapers will accommodate” (Iyer 1). Traveling is so valuable because we finally get to experience things first hand, rather than just seeing it on the news. When I went to Washington D.C. last year it was an incredible experience because there is so much history behind everything there. I think Washington D.C. is an example of a touristy place where people can still get a lot out of it, even though most people are not there to immerse themselves into the culture of D.C.

            The video “Faithful Travel” is a great way to demonstrate how traveling can also be about helping out other cultures who do not have the same lifestyle as Americans. I love how Steves notes the important of helping out others. Americans are blessed with so many opportunities and we should not take advantage of that. Traveling to places with high poverty not only allows people to make a difference in the world, but it can also change us as a person. Overall, I feel like I would much rather considering myself to be a traveler than a tourist!