Nowadays, the demand for better travel has skyrocketed and the trend of travel has changed. Then, how has the trend changed? Before discussing this, we need to know what made the difference; the development of mobile technology is the key of this change. Mobile devices so-called mobile revolution caused rapid spread and generalization of plentiful and various information, and that has influenced on our life including travel. A report explains what implication this development has applied on our travel pattern.
We are in the midst of an out-and-out explosion in mobile technology innovation. The use of smartphone / tablet technology, social media and apps are growing rapidly, to the point where online use from mobile devices is expected to outstrip traditional internet use by 2014. It’s changing the way we experience and engage with everyday life– from the way we spend our leisure time to the way we communicate with our friends and family – the impact is there for all to see. If we know one thing for sure it’s that the use of technology will continue to innovate and evolve as we look towards 2020.(Northern Ireland Tourist Board, 2013)Through this article, it can be confidently believed that thanks to the information revolution people don't need to depend on travel packages of tour agencies anymore. Moreover, Rafat Ali and others explains the trend, saying people started to shun human interaction on their report. The reason, according to the research, is because they know everything about places where they would go with their mobile tools. Thus, people finally could independently forge and create their way of travel palatable to themselves with mobile tools. Because it sometimes becomes our task to set the travel plans from choosing places to deciding the time spent in there, it is need-to-know to consider the question about which is more important, quality and quantity.
Today, the tendency of "competitive travel"ㅡto concentrate on increasing the number of places a person visit or the stamps on the passportㅡbecame popular in the support of mobile and transportation technology. We can think it can be exciting or challenging, so meaningful. There are, however, some benefits this tendency cannot give travelers, but qualitative travel can doㅡ one involving human interaction, one involving deep understanding, and one involving true information.
Let's consider human interactions first. Unlike quantitative travelers, Qualitative traveler have enough time to communicate with native people of tourist spots. Why does it important? In the post of a blog, the writer who have spent his time traveling more than 14 years, said how he was lonely on his travel without communication, describing interaction as a key of learning about tourist sites.
I could not understand the language. I had no idea about the local customs. I did not know which places were safe, which should be avoided, what foods to try, what had a higher chance of making me ill. I did not have any friends around. I did not know who to trust or how to find out any reliable information and I did not even know what he was ‘supposed’ to be doing every day…In the end, the only way to learn some of the language, the only way to learn about the customs and where to eat or what’s on the menu or how to find information is to communicate with those around you. Talk to the shop owners, ask your waiter a question, start conversations with fellow travelers (many of whom are wandering around struggling with the same things as you!), rely on the hostel staff for some advice. (Derek Baron, 2013)Based on the empirical story of the veteran traveler, it can be said that the interaction with native people gives travelers a lot of advantages like skill of communicating with strangers, learning languages and customs, or knowing new information of the place. The time to interact with people is a benefit only qualitative travel can give. We all knows that our smartphone can give us information, but there must be something it cannot give us, but the interaction can do like talking skill. If we are busy moving from places to places, we would lose the time and benefits it gives. Though it is likely to be thought that people with mobile tools can solve almost problems while traveling, it cannot surpass the power of qualitative travel that we can directly learn something, erasing loneliness mobile tools give us away.
Moving on another reason, deep understanding in travel is also an important element which qualitative travel can give us. Being free from time limitation and getting relaxed let travelers feel and appreciate attractions more deeply. Think about two people traveling France, and suppose one is on competitive travel and another is on qualitative travel. They go to Louvre Museum to watch some pictures. While one person hurries to finish watching, another enjoys the pictures of the museum comfortably. Also, the understanding of two people about the a painting must be different. What makes these two people different? It is a time and attitude of mind. While first person should consider time during the travel, another person can fully concentrate on watching attractions because there is nothing to care. Therefore, appreciation between those who observed it closely in calm and those who caught a glimpse of it in hurry would be very different in depth. What ensures our deep understanding is enough time and relaxedness. They provide enough condition to watch, feel, and think. In tother words, to enjoy the trip and appreciate places and its assets well, we should be free from urgency to move and keep calm in affluent time.
Finally, let's turn to information. One might think it is more easier to get information on the internet than on traveling. We need to, however, know information of natives is more trustworthy than that of internet. It is a well-known truth that information on the media like internet, facebook, or tweeter is not always reliable. Most of those who use them might have experience finding famous restaurants reviews on blogs, which sometimes exaggerate or even distort the truth; the bloggers take bribes which owners of restaurants offered to draw attention of people. The misinformation of media can be found not only this example but also more like rumors about the entertainment or the government. (There are some examples for this on the Web site: The Rapid Spread of Misinformation Online) If the phenomenon that people get wrong information and so get in trouble in keeping their trip going on, it can result in bad thoughts that might let people become unwilling to travel. On the other hand, the information from natives in attractions is more reliable and fast. As they really live around attractions, it is more easy to know about information or events of there. For example, native people of a rural attraction know a restaurant would move soon to another place while internet doesn't know what would happen before it occurs. Although the speed of the internet improved, it cannot predict events of attractions unless native people announce it on the internet. How can internet give information that native people donot know? Therefore, we can get better information from navtives of attractions than the internet.
Those who prefer competitive can disagree with my opinion. One of the example of that is opinion of a post.
a person who travels to places for a quick moment is still accomplishing something, still experiencing a new destination, even if it is brief. There is no harm, and perhaps even a net positive that this form of travel can offer a person, as far as culture and education are concerned. A person who has traveled to 100 countries in a year is still going to have plenty of stories – that’s incontestable; perhaps the amount of stories can equal or surpass the stories of a person who traveled through one country in a year. One point in the favor of competitive travelers – these guys are more likely to be around people more often, as frequent journeys to and from destinations usually force one to submit to the joys that are travel transportation, such as planes. And being around people in a foreign destination is a learning experience, more times than not. Also, in just short minutes we can do many things; having a coffee break with a person I just met in there, appreciating beautiful scenery.(Eilers, 2013)It is right that we cannot said the devotee of competitive travel has not experienced something important or meaningful, and that they are also accomplishing something, being satisfied with watching their record of travel. How can we say, however, he or she completely enjoyed certain place even if he or she doesn't know anything about? Can a person say "I have visited New York" even though he or she just spent 10 minutes in JFK Airport for transfer? I believe dropping out cannot be a experience of real travel. Besides, they cannot deny this; competitive traveling makes people exhausted mentally and physically. As they visit many places, they may have a lot of place to remember and have to use much of their power to move another place. Considering this, we could know qualitative travel is more effective than quantitative travel.
We have started to travel with any purposes for a long time and the development of technologies, especially mobile technology has influenced on the process. Some might say that to decide the time to stay at a place depends upon personal characteristics. However, it is still true that spending enough time in tour places allows us to achieve better travel experience in the aspect of a human interaction, a deep understanding, and an accuracy of information. Travel is not for becoming busy but for getting relaxed and affluent in mind. I believe people can take a step for the best travel and enjoy the advantages of travel when they acknowledge the importance of quality in travel. We should not forget that travel can be completed not with evidences that we visited there like pictures or stamps but with the overall process of it.
References
Northern Ireland Tourist Board. (2013). Tourism In The Midst of A Mobile Revolution.
Retrieved from http://www.historyspace.eu/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Tourism-
in-the-midst-of-a-mobile-revolution.pdf
Rafat A., Jason C., Dennis S. and Samantha S. (2014). The 14 Trends That Will DefineTravel In 2014 Retrieved from http://www.fairtrade.travel/uploads/files/Skift_
Trends_2014.pdf
Derek E. B. (2013, June 20). Feeling Lost, Confused & Lonely While Traveling? Retrieved
from http://www.wanderingearl.com/feeling-lost-confused-lonely-while-traveling/
Farida V. (2014, Janurary 25). The Rapid Spread of Misinformation Online Retrieved from
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/farida-vis/the-rapid-spread-of-misinformation-
online_b_4665678.html
Christian K. E. ( 2013, Sep 18) Competitive Traveling: Quantity vs. Quality Retrieved from
http://www.dauntlessjaunter.com/2013/09/18/competitive-traveling-quantity-vs-
quality/
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