Tourist or traveler?

In the world of travel and tourism, there is an eternal endless debate: am I a tourist or a traveler during my vacation? I'm not sure that there is a truth or answer.

Of course when we discover a new place, one prefers to be considered a real traveler rather than as a mere tourist.

The term "tourist" has a strong pejorative connotation while being "traveler" mentioned in your surroundings, the adventure, the discovery of thirst, immersion in another culture.

First try to classify different categories of tourists (this classification is inspired by an article by François Pillon for Trek Magazine):

The club resort tourist: it descends from the plane tong, shall cause his bags at his hotel and direct line to the beach: the stay will be successful by returning more tanned than office colleagues.

The tourist "here it's done": before leaving he makes a list of monuments and sites to visit and it becomes the thread of his journey. The goal is of course to all the items before returning. Generally moves in a large group with a guide holding an umbrella with arms in the air. Do not listen to the explanations of the tours but is essential to understanding the country.

The tourist "1000 photos per day": moves alone or in groups, permanently camera on tour at a rate of 100 photos / hour, if possible gene other visitors because it is more important and photograph the building risk of collapse or disappear before it has had time to shoot the picture. Generally it pisses his entourage showing them his complete pictures without having to sort or selection on his return.

Adventure tourists also said "traveler": it does not go on vacation, he travels, he goes on an adventure! He does not accept the term tourist and strives to pass for a "local" by adopting the habits and customs of the area. It starts where other tourists do not go and was surprised that his surroundings are not yet gone.

The backpacker tourist: Being smarter than other tourists, he traveled without going through the traditional agencies. By his knowledge of the world, he is able to find much better shots than professionals. He knows how to negotiate, do not hesitate to spend two hours to obtain a discount of 0.5 euros and, if possible, brags to the categories of "inferior" (cited above).

The committed tourist: He does not travel to think only of her small person, he came to help people and live an immersion. He is young and "committed" and arranges to blame the other tourists who are there only for their own pleasure. Therefore, it condones pollute the planet (as aware of its environmental footprint when taking the plane) because it is just come to save her.

The weary tourist who no longer travel: He traveled so much that he believes that there is nothing more to explore and discover and think adventure is at the corner of the street. This is an embittered who no longer believe in anything.

All of us will be able to recognize some in each of these portraits.

There is another interesting book on the topic "The idiot of the trip" written by sociologist Jean-Didier Urbain.

Here is an excerpt:

"The traveler who makes it a point of honor to be distinguished from tourists by making him his antithesis is today the engine of tourism. Roads and creating new ways to travel. Now it is for tourism that the traveler works. Each route that trace is a new circuit. once vanguard of civilization, the traveler is only the forefront of an industry. »

So tourist or traveler?

I have the impression that finally the tourist is the Other, never themselves. Each traveler sees himself as far from the herd of tourist, mass tourism. Is it reasonable to say that we will be immersed in the culture of a country staying there for 2 months? I for one do not believe it and I think it's a lack of consideration for the country visited. Tourism is becoming a consumer product like any other with a thriving tourism industry: we see the arrival of new tourists, such as the Chinese, Brazilians, Russians since the early 2000s Suddenly the tourism industry came to paste its marketing footprint to distinguish these different offers (fair or responsible tourism, adventure tourism) and offer different types of services: all-inclusive package equivalent of all inclusive insurance trip cancellation ....

Remain humble and let's just say we are tourists who travel here and there. By cons respect the customs of the regions visited, do not try to apply our thinking to situations encountered, let's not simple travel consumers.

Anecdote: countries such as Nepal and Tanzania practice tip for guides or guides. This tradition has long existed in these countries, unlike France, where the service is usually included in the price. But this often poses (fake) problems to the French who do not understand that everything is not included in the final price. Everything does not work at home and that's why we travel, to discover other landscapes, other cultures and other ways of living.

By definition we are tourists since we do not live in the country visited more than 6 months. Despite our efforts to discover the country and understand by staying with a host, eating at the greasy spoon around the corner, we must face the fact that we will be less tourists to his life there. The time when the journey was uncertain adventure, where we explored unknown lands, is almost over: tourism has grown in every corner of the globe (even at the South Pole with more and more tourist expeditions) that who also discovered more easily beautiful landscapes and cultural sites.

In short be happy to travel, let's not be condescending to other travelers or tourists and respect the places visited. Remain open to the discovery of other cultures and try to immerse ourselves in the countries visited.