Tourist vs Traveler
Making a trip, going on a vacation, touring, and travelling are some of the words and phrases that are common with the concept of moving to different places. History is replete with renowned travelers like Christopher Columbus and Hsuan Tsang but not tourists. Why? Is there a difference between a traveler and a tourist? Let us find out in this article.
Tourist
The word tourist comes from tourism that refers to travel for pleasure and recreation. People going to distant places for pleasure, business, or any other business and staying there for a period of not more than a year at a time are labeled as tourists. A tourist is, therefore, someone who goes to far off places with no intention to stay in these places permanently. He may go for a vacation or on a business trip. At times, a tourist is visiting his relatives and friends and, on others, he is seen attending cultural or musical events held in other countries. A tourist may be interested in just sightseeing, or he may have gone abroad to attend or participate in a sports meet or event.
Tourism today has become a commercial activity with many countries depending upon foreign exchange that they earn with their tourism industry. In 2011, nearly 1000 million tourists arrived in different places of the world.
Traveler
Traveler is a word used for a person who travels. Travel is more of a verb than a noun as it is the activity of moving from a place to another. A traveler is a person who travels for the purpose of traveling as if traveling is a vocation. A traveler does not plan his destinations and places of attraction in advance and does not make arrangements like a tourist. He just sets off with a one way ticket as he does not have a set date for departure and arrival. Travelers do pay visit to tourist attractions and historical landmarks, but they at times just pass locations as against tourists who plan every detail of their trip and often take a guided tour of the place, to save on time and make it to see everything of importance in the place they are touring.
What is the difference between Tourist and Traveler?
• Whether a tourist or a traveler, both travel to far off places.
• A tourist plans his visit in advance and has the exact places of attraction in his mind.
• A tourist travels for recreation and pleasure (sometimes business), but he may also be visiting friends and relatives or attending cultural events and sporting meets.
• A traveler is a person interested in traveling by instinct, and he passes through locations rather than collecting souvenirs for folks back home like a tourist.
• Famous explorers of the past are referred to as travelers and not tourists.
• Travel is more of a verb than a tour which is why traveler connotes image of a barefoot man roaming from one place to another.
‘Tourist’ comes from the word ‘tour’ as in something that is organised. Package holidays and excursions are designed for tourists. A traveller ventures off the beaten track, away from the crowds, and experiences things most don’t experience. Tourists focus on the destination, whereas travellers focus on the journey. As Robert Louis Stevenson once said “I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.” It’s the love of motion under a persons feet which makes a traveller. A tourist can’t wait to arrive at his/her destination.