Differences between tourists and travelers:
Are you a tourist or a traveler?
1. A tourist doesn't mind being called a tourist.
A traveler does, very much.
2. A tourist wants to see all the sights.
A traveler wants to see some, but also to find something interesting that isn't in the
guidebook.
3. A tourist tries foreign food but acts like they're putting a grenade in their mouth.
A traveler eats the local food with abandon and spends the next 3 days on the toilet.
4. A tourist takes photos of all the famous stuff.
A traveler takes pictures of ordinary people and things and is rewarded by the locals
with gratitude or puzzlement.
5. A tourist will go to McDonalds in a foreign country, with no shame.
A traveler will go there too but not tell anyone.
6. A Tourist tend to travel in large groups or with their families.
A Traveler tend to travel solo, or with one other person, thus NOT BLOCKING THE
PAVEMENT THANK YOU.
7. A tourist will learn a few words of the local language.
A traveler will too, but act like they know more.
8. A tourist gets ripped off.
A traveler haggles. And still gets ripped off.
9. A Tourists (the British ones at least) get drunk.
A Traveler also gets drunk but ensure their drinking money is going directly to the
local community.
10. A Tourist goes on holiday.
A Traveler goes travelling.
Travelers vs Tourists
Travelers and tourists are both people who travel to different locations. The difference is that
they have different connotations and that one is a broader term than the other. All tourists are
travelers, but not all travelers are tourists.
The word ‘traveler’ simply means someone who travels. ‘Travelling’ itself means going from
one place to the other, but it most often means going on a long journey. It isn’t very common
to describe yourself as travelling when all you’re doing is going to get groceries. In the UK
and Ireland, it can also mean someone who leads a nomadic lifestyle, always moving from
place to place. ‘Tourist’, on the other hand, is a very specific word. It means someone who
temporarily travels to another location just to enjoy the new place.
When describing people who travel to other countries, there are a few categories they can fall
into. Some people have to travel for business, such as when they go to have a conference.
Other people go to a place in transit. For instance, someone who wants to go from the US to
Tibet would probably have to change planes in China. They would be travelling to China, but
it wouldn’t be their final destination. Other people will go to places for charitable work, such
as helping out with relief and aid after a major disaster. The last category is travelling for
pleasure. This can mean anything from going to another country to enjoy the landscape to
going to a theme park or tourist trap.
Tourists are specifically people who go to another place for pleasure when that’s the main
goal of the trip. If a businessman were to take some time on his trip to experience the
landscape of the place he’s in, then he wouldn’t be a tourist, since that wasn’t the purpose of
the trip. Someone who travels for pleasure and takes some time to do some business work
would be a tourist.
There are some who divide people who go somewhere for pleasure into travelers and tourists.
According to those definitions, tourists are shallow people who care more about boasting that
they were in a place than actually experiencing it, while travelers are people who blaze new
trails and experience a much deeper connection with a place by going to the exact same
attractions that the tourists go to, but more deeply. This is because the people who created
this definition are all self-described travelers.
Tourism has gained a bit of a bad reputation. Some tourists will go to places and become a
nuisance. For instance, in the United States, the Quileute reservation was damaged by
tourists, though that is an extreme example. Other people will act like the stereotype of
tourists. However, the majority of tourists do not – it is just far more common to hear about
the horror stories than about the people who don’t do anything worth complaining about.
Still, because of those people, some don’t want to be associated with the word ‘tourist’ even
if they are doing the exact same things a tourist does.
It could be argued that the two words mean different approaches to travelling abroad: tourists
want to have a good time with the “normal” travelling activities while travelers have fun by
experiencing the culture. There’s nothing wrong with either mindset, because they’re just
personal preferences.
To summarize, travelers are people who go to somewhere else. Tourists are people who go to
another place to have fun. Some people prefer not to be called tourists, however, because they
do not want to be associated with tourists who have behaved badly in the past.
