Tourism and Its Benefits
Tourism brings numerous benefits to individuals in the world today. Every day millions of individuals travel from one region, country, place or station to another to seek education and do jobs. Traveling can also happen to be for pleasure; as a result, it has become a popular hobby for Y-generation kids and adults. Additionally, the event has been an exciting way used by families to spend holidays and time away from home and monotony associated with it. Every year people who desire to travel for short or long distances fill the railway stations, airports, bus stops and seaports. However, the choice of means of transport depends on time and distance, cost, safety, comfort, the age of passengers, how much luggage they need to carry as well as convenience. Travelers are not always the same and therefore organize their trips and journeys in different ways that suit them. Some individuals prefer using travel agencies to reach their destinations safely in the shortest time possible. Irrespective of the means of transport used by people, traveling has some social, economic and psychological benefits to travelers. In fact, frequent traveling encourages an individual to gain substantial experience and knowledge regarding culture, societies, and behavior of others. Consequently, the paper will attempt to look at the benefits associated with traveling in the 21st century.<\/p>
The Importance of Leisure Travel
Chen (02) revealed that tourism, which is leisure travel outside one\u2019s usual setting, has remained to be a human life necessity over the years. As a result, the frequency of traveling among humans has increased over the last few decades for either business purpose or work. In the same line, Frtiz and Sonnentag (936) exposed that leisure travels would help people to relieve stress, which was an essential finding since high levels of stress have led to deteriorating health conditions of both adults and children. Nonetheless, studies investigating the stress reprieve benefit of traveling used only psychological measures by interrogating subjects to self-report their observed stress levels (Chen and Petrick, 710). These measures have discrepancies that may lead to the collection of inaccurate data and findings. However, all these studies by Chen and colleagues agree that a little time spent on traveling for leisure has a considerable benefit to the mental health and well-being of an individual.<\/p>
Enhancing Creativity through Traveling
Another benefit associated with traveling is enhancing the creativity of an individual. The experiences linked to travel will increase both cognitive flexibility, depth, and integrativeness of ideas. Additionally, the capability to make deep acquaintances between dissimilar forms of life and culture is associable to traveling. One of the greatest concerns associated with the activity is multicultural engagement, adaptation, and immersion. Individuals who do not travel do not have the opportunity to intermingle and learn about other people\u2019s culture as well as adaptation modes and styles that make others live a particular life as well as in the region. People who live abroad and do not get an opportunity to engage with the local culture often become less creative than those who are frequently traveling and interact with other culture and environment. Therefore, the more an individual relate to the local as well as abroad culture, the more they gain the ability to be imaginative and artistic in their thoughts, perception, and connections.<\/p>
Boosting Happiness and Satisfaction through Travel
Scholars have proven that traveling boosts happiness and satisfaction among individuals (Bloom et al. 614; K\u00fchnel and Sabine, 125). Most people often become happier when they travel because they do not have to worry about work. Additionally, people have experienced increased happiness from planning trips and journeys to visit their families or relatives abroad. The anticipation associated with vacation is greater than the expectation of acquiring physical possession in life. Therefore, the benefits of traveling abroad commence immediately the journey begins. However, research has revealed that after traveling happiness often dropped back to baseline levels for most individuals (Durko, 198). Moreover, vacation increases both the mental and physical well-being because pursuing life on the roads for a short or long time makes people happy and feeling satisfied by building their self-confidence and esteem. Besides, it provides travelers with new memories and experiences as well as breaking the routine and providing one with a chance to meet others from around the globe.<\/p>
The Social Aspect of Traveling
Travelling allows an individual to make new friends on the road and during their stay. People who travel find it easier to make new compatriots when pursuing life on the roads than when at home, where people are less interested to chat with strangers in a bar or bus stop. When individuals are away from home they experience a life with no boundaries and barriers to cross and create new connections, relation and friends as the locals may want to know where the travelers come from. Additionally, fellow travelers may be keen to have some partner with whom they can enjoy a drink with or share a cab. As a result, social interaction increases which make the people happy as they meet individuals from different cultural and political background and therefore discovering a lot (Lusby and Marcus, 18). Besides, enhancing new experiences by meeting the locals and fellow vacationers, traveling allow a person to learn new skills such as cooking and local songs, language and increasing their knowledge and education. In the process of learning an individual makes their brain more active and aggressive to appreciate some traditions, phenomenon, and cultures because a new environment will often engage the inactive portion of the mind. Navigating unfamiliar regions, reading foreign languages making quick decisions and trying new things makes a person to think from a broader viewpoint and hence keeps the brain active.<\/p>
A Shift in Perspective
Traveling helps one to shift their perspective after coming back from a journey or vacation. Getting exposed to new people, tradition, and culture helps a traveler to shift their paradigm and create a healthier perspective when returning home. Observing and appreciating social classes that exist in a given community helps people to create compassion and makes them feel more contented and blessed. A large section of the world\u2019s population has to deal with threats and social issues such as hunger, diseases, and calamities in their daily life. Consequently, visiting these regions assists an individual to appreciate all the privileges they have and enjoy in their country.<\/p>
Conclusion
In conclusion, traveling has many benefits in the 21st century than ever thought. Moving out of the daily routine helps one to improve their physical and mental well-being. Traveling as an event helps individual to become happy, acts as stress reliever among people and increases the chances of creating new friends and connections. However, individuals may choose various forms of transport such as air, land or sea depending on factors such as age, convenience, time, distance, and cost of traveling among others. As a result, people should engage in more travel missions to enjoy the benefits linked to this event.<\/p>
Works Cited
Bloom, Jessica, et al. "Vacation (After-) Effects on Employee Health and Well-Being, and the Role of Vacation Activities, Experiences and Sleep." Journal of Happiness Studies, vol. 14, no. 2, Apr. 2013, pp. 613-633. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1007/s10902-012-9345-3.
Chen, Chun-Chu, and James F. Petrick. “Health and wellness benefits of travel experiences: A literature review.” Journal of Travel Research, 2013, 52(6): 709-719.
Chen, Chun-Chun. “Assessing the stress-relief benefits of outdoor travel using physiology and psychological measures.” Tourism Travel and Research Association: Advancing Tourism Research Globally, 2016. Retrieved on February 24, 2018 from https://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1153"context=ttra
Durko, Angela M. "Examining the Potential Relationship Benefits of Leisure Travel Taken with and without One's Significant Other and Children." European Journal of Tourism Research, vol. 12, Jan. 2016, pp. 197-201.
Fritz, Charlotte, and Sabine, Sonnentag. "Recovery, well-being, and performance-Related outcomes: The role of workload and vacation experiences." Journal of Applied Psychology, 2006, 91(4): 936-945.
Kühnel, Jana and Sabine Sonnentag. "How Long Do You Benefit from Vacation? A Closer Look at the Fade-Out of Vacation Effects." Journal of Organizational Behavior, vol. 32, no. 1, Jan. 2011, p. 125.
Lusby, Carolin and Marcus Story. "Perceived Motivations, Barriers and Benefits of Young African Americans to Travel." Consortium Journal of Hospitality " Tourism, vol. 18, no. 1, Jan. 2013, pp. 17-39.
