Why do people choose to travel? At the Avoya 2017 conference several travel suppliers provided answers and we thought you'd be interested. Here's five great reasons to travel:
Many people travel to learn new things. They seek cultural enhancement and they want to be enlightened. There's many ways to learn and one of them is experiential learning. You can read about what life in Polynesia is or you can attend lectures or even listen to podcasts. But there's nothing like being there to truly learn the culture. You can: feel the humidity, see the beauty of lagoons, hear the chants during the ceremonial dances, converse and see for yourself just how friendly people are. You can learn history, you can learn about art or you can learn about current events through travel. If you like to learn, you'll love to travel.
Travel opens doors in many ways. You can have unique, enriching experiences. You can be exposed to new people, food and drink. Some examples: seeing The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli in the Uffizi (Florence Italy) can open doors about understanding art, the Renaissance or Florence. Watching whales opens up doors about intelligent life, gentleness and the ocean in general. Drinking a fresh Helles beer in Germany can open new styles of beer and help open up the German culture. Walking through Paris opens up doors as to why France was the center of western civilization for so long. Floating on a glacial lake in Alaska opens up environmental doors that perhaps you just didn't appreciate before your experience.
Some people travel just to try something new. It could be an adventure like a jet ski tour in Bora Bora. Curious travelers like to explore the subway in each new city to see where it takes them. Many want to try out different languages (perhaps even your high school Spanish). Satiating curiosity can be fun and can take you all over the world. Ever wonder what goulash tastes like in Hungry or a Guinness in Dublin? Ever want to sail from one island to the next in a 50 ft yacht? Want a D Day view of the Normandy beaches? Want to taste wine where its made? Interested in learning to scuba dive?
Sometimes the world just seems a little disconnected. Travel affords you the opportunity to connect with others. After a week on a river cruise, you'll feel a special bond with many of your fellow passengers. After a few days in China, you'll feel much more connected to the Chinese then you ever thought possible. Want to volunteer? There's lots of ways to give back all around the world. There's nothing like having dinner with a local Italian to create a special connection. Connection is so important to understanding others....and ourselves.
And then there's people that are looking to change. Perhaps they want to bring calm and order to their own life. Nothing like a week or so on the beach contemplating and reflecting to bring calm. Maybe after making some new connections and experiencing new adventures they'll better understand themselves. There's vacations to feel better physically as well as learn new nutritional techniques. Some people look at a vacation as a sort of break in their life - a kind of transition from one phase of life to another phase.
Or maybe, just maybe you want to change the world. People have been traveling to change the world since the beginnings of time. Why not join in? Stand where Magellan stood in Lisbon and see what new worlds you can discover. And maybe this is the best reason to travel of them all.