‘Experiential travel’ has now been eclipsed by ‘transformative travel’
For several years now, conversations between travel professionals have been full of references to “experiential travel,” a new variety of travel requested by more and more travelers. Unlike the standard sightseeing-based programs, experiential travel stressed more authentic contact with the life in various foreign locations, and it also immersed the traveler in those authentic experiences.
More recently, the conversations have switched to “transformative travel” or “transformational travel.” That change was brought about by a growing realization that experiential travel was too casual and forgettable. By contrast, a “transformative” travel experience stays with the traveller long after he or she returns home.
It sometimes changes the person’s viewpoints and opinions, if only in a minor sense.
You will be seeing references to transformative travel in tour literature of the future. It consists, as one example, of meeting foreign students attending an overseas university to learn about their views of the world that are so different from ours. It also could involve having dinner in a foreign home and learning how the residents react to various instances of foreign policy. In its most minor fashion, it means deliberately exposing yourself to different religions, different lifestyles and different opinions, thus being compelled to assess your own view of those topics.
Such new forms of travel may cause you to change. You might not abandon your own lifestyles and attitudes, but you’ll likely put them into greater perspective.
Look for various forms of transformative travel in tour literature; then you can make up your own mind as to whether they deserve your atttention.
“It consists, as one example, of meeting foreign students attending an overseas university to learn about their views of the world that are so different from ours. It also could involve having dinner in a foreign home and learning how the residents react to various instances of foreign policy.”