Interesting Types of Tourism
What Types of Tourism Exist
Life these days is so fast-paced and ever-changing; every day, people strive for something new and unexplored. Many have grown tired of simply traveling to another city, sightseeing, diving somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, or feeding monkeys in the jungles of South America.
That is why new types of tourism are emerging, exotic and so unusual that it’s hard to believe they exist.
What is caravaning and jailoo tourism, where you can become a farmer for a week or a movie star for an hour, and how to fly to Mars for free. Choose what appeals to you, or suggest your own options.
Cultural and Educational Tourism.
At its core lies the tourist's need to expand their cultural horizons. This type of tourism introduces cultural values. Tourists gain knowledge voluntarily, by their own choice.
Cultural and educational activities can be grouped as follows:
a) Familiarization with various historical, architectural, or cultural eras through visits to architectural monuments, museums, historical routes, etc.;
b) Attendance at cultural or artistic performances: music, cinema or theaters, concerts, exhibitions;
c) Participation in lectures, seminars, or foreign language courses.
Rural Tourism
Rural tourism returns to the basics. Instead of an alarm clock — roosters, instead of an office coffee machine — a cow that needs milking, and instead of rubber vegetables from the supermarket — fresh produce straight from the garden. You can organize a rural tour yourself, find a local guide, or trust agencies that specialize in agritourism. Some companies focus on specific regions, while others organize adventures for every taste in all corners of the world.
At agriturismo.net, you can find everything about farms in Tuscany for horseback riding enthusiasts, while American Agrotours is ready for anything: from “Take me where there are no skyscrapers and cars, I’ll turn off my phone and take care of flowers” to “I want to know how meat farms operate in Australia.” The slogan of Indian Agri Tourism states: “To change, one must return to their roots.” Indeed, India is arguably the best country in the world for those who want to return to their origins. In Israel, the Ministry of Agriculture is involved in the development of agritourism, and its website lists 16 adventure ideas — from fishing to beekeeping.
Military Tourism.
It can easily be confused with suicidal tourism, and not without reason. After all, a person who chooses a military tour is heading straight into an active combat zone. Strangely enough, there are many who wish to experience the horrors of war: shell explosions, heavy artillery fire, bomb blasts, and machine-gun fire. A record number of military tourists was even set during the war in Afghanistan. Many of them never returned home.
Jailoo Tourism
The Kyrgyz word "jailoo" translates to "mountain pasture." Jailoo tourists travel to untouched corners of the planet — the mountains and steppes of Asia, the forests of Siberia and North America, the jungles of the Amazon, and the reserves of Africa — to temporarily forget the comforts of civilization. You can start in the homeland of this type of tourism — Kyrgyzstan, but don’t choose extreme routes if you lack hiking experience. It’s safer to find a local guide who will lead you along the right path to high-altitude pastures between Issyk-Kul and Son-Kul lakes. The best time to travel is from May to September, although warm clothing will be needed even in summer.
Jailoo tourism can be combined with ethnic tourism — spending the night in a shepherd's yurt in the Mongolian steppe, staying in a thatched hut in a remote Indonesian village, or visiting the friendly Barabaig tribe in northern Tanzania. A traveler "accepted into the family" lives the everyday life of the indigenous people, follows local traditions and rituals, and learns skills such as herding livestock, making clay dishes, or starting a fire without a lighter.
Atomic Tourism.
It emerged after the beginning of the Nuclear Age. Curious tourists visit significant places related to atomic energy. For example, there are museums focused on atomic weapons. However, places like Hiroshima and Nagasaki, where atomic bombs were used, are far more popular. In Ukraine, there are also tours to Pripyat and Chernobyl. In Kyiv, the Chernobyl Museum is open for visits.
Cine Tourism
Cine tourists yearn to become characters in their favorite films, and there are two ways to do this. You can follow in the footsteps of Sherlock Holmes in the UK or rent a red Chevrolet Impala and cruise in yellow sunglasses along the route of the characters from "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas." Alternatively, you can find yourself right in the sets of your favorite movie. For example, explore every corner of Tolkien's Middle-earth in New Zealand, see the alien landscapes of "Star Wars" in Tunisia's Tatouine, Matmata, and Tozeur. Fans of Woody Allen can organize a whole "staircase tour" across Europe, starting with that very staircase at the church of Saint-Étienne-du-Mont, from which the character of "Midnight in Paris" was transported to the 1920s, and then to the Spanish Steps from "Roman Adventures."
Shark Tourism.
It is a subtype of eco-tourism, which is very popular in the world today. This is a rather risky and terrifying way to relax. This tourism emerged thanks to shark enthusiasts. If you suddenly want to see a great white shark in the open ocean with your own eyes, you need to be an experienced diver. But don’t be alarmed; you won’t be sent off with a scuba tank to search for a lurking shark without precautions.
The brave souls who dare to take this bold step are lowered into a specially protected cage. Although everything is conducted at a high level, very professionally and organized, no one is immune from accidents. Unfortunately, some incidents have ended in fatalities.
Therefore, you need to think and weigh everything a hundred times before giving in to your craving for adrenaline.
Festival Tourism
Music lovers practice another type of tourism — festival tourism. In Europe, you can attend several concerts in one vacation. Many festivals last three days, so campsites and trailer parks are set up near the stage. Among the iconic music events are the Spanish Primavera (late May - early June), the British Glastonbury (late June), and the Hungarian Sziget in August. You can find a festival to your liking on the Festicket website.
To some extent, trips to grand events like the Brazilian or Venetian carnivals, the encierro in Pamplona, Oktoberfest, or the Edinburgh Fringe Festival can also be classified as festival tourism.
Gastronomic Tourism
Culinary courses and ethnic restaurants are everywhere, but getting to know the recipes of national cuisines is more interesting in their homeland. Perhaps it’s about the atmosphere and perception, but no matter how you look at it, massaman curry is tastier in Krabi, and khinkali is better in Kazbegi. And for the recipe of the perfect pizza, it’s worth traveling to southern Italy and trying to persuade the owners of family restaurants to hold a master class (though basic Italian will be necessary in this case).
A trip through France should definitely include tasting cheeses and wines. The "cheese" regions are Normandy, the birthplace of Camembert, and Burgundy, where Napoleon's favorite cheese, Époisses, was created. The perfect pairing for soft aromatic cheeses would be wines from Burgundy, Bordeaux, and Champagne. And to learn about tea, head to the Chinese province of Fujian, famous for its oolongs and black teas, to the birthplace of pu-erh in Yunnan, or trekking in Sichuan with its green and yellow teas.
Ecological Tourism
Adherents of this type of tourism spiritually enrich themselves through solitary communion with nature. Typically, eco-tourists stay in cabins in national reserves, with wild animals as their neighbors. The goal is to observe from a safe distance and not to cause harm. There is even an international community of eco-tourists who wish to benefit the environment during their vacations.
However, eco-tourism can also be quite extreme. Take, for example, the so-called "shark tours," where you are submerged in the sea in a special cage, where predators are already showing their teeth — this is not for the faint-hearted!
Caravaning
Caravans refer to homes on wheels, and they are very convenient for being both a homebody and a traveler at the same time. This way of organizing life was invented by American settlers in the 1930s. Moving from place to place, they brought along folding furniture and household items in covered wagons.
Gradually, special campgrounds for caravaners began to appear — like small communities. Even today, in the USA and Europe, there are many who are not ready to trade their trailer for a regular apartment or house.
If you are easy to move and have always dreamed of embarking on a road trip without stopping at hotels, this is what you need. This type of tourism is also great because it offers complete independence from public transport schedules, and you can bring everything you need with you, including bicycles, surfboards, or skis.
Ghetto Tourism.
This type of tourism was first heard of in the mid-2000s. Interest in hip-hop is growing every year. Some enthusiasts are very interested in seeing the places where hip-hop originated — for some, it’s just music and dance, while for others, it’s a lifestyle. Recently, visiting the ghettos of New York, Detroit, Los Angeles, and Chicago has gained great popularity among tourists (mainly youth) interested in the lifestyle of emerging artists, musicians, and attracted by the painted walls of houses, original graffiti, and the clothing of such people.
Spiritual Tourism
The goal of spiritual tourism is not so much to change the environment as to change oneself. It is an ascetic form of travel for those who seek inner harmony and mental clarity. Such tourists travel to countries with a mild climate — typically India, Thailand, or Indonesia — to practice yoga and spiritual practices in a peaceful setting.
Industrial Tourism
Who hasn’t climbed into half-burnt houses and abandoned construction sites as a child? Urbex (urban exploration) is a type of tourism aimed at urban research. Industrial tourists are diggers who explore subways and underground utilities, roofers who walk on rooftops, and stalkers who penetrate abandoned sites, not only industrial ones. For example, a stalker can head to the ghost town of Kadikchan in the Magadan region or to the prototype of Silent Hill — the town of Centralia in Pennsylvania, where an underground fire has been burning for over half a century.
There is also a tourist movement for those interested in religious sites that have lost their sacred significance: post-pilgrims find and explore forgotten temples. A separate subtype of industrial tourism is atomic tourism. Fans of the Atomic Age travel to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, the abandoned Pripyat, and are slowly starting to penetrate Fukushima Prefecture.
Dark Tourism
It is also referred to as "dark," "black," or "dread tourism." The essence lies in traveling to places associated with death, destruction, mysticism, and tragedies. "Dark tourists" seek experiences by walking through cemeteries and battlefields, attracted to all things sinister and supernatural. The historical significance of events is very important for fans of this type of tourism. Popular sites include those where large numbers of people died, where mass suicides occurred, as well as palaces and castles with dark histories.
Among the attractions of dark tourism are the former death camp in Auschwitz, 60 km from Krakow, the French ghost town of Oradour-sur-Glane, destroyed during World War II, the site of mass executions at Choeung Ek, and other Killing Fields in Cambodia. In the USA, tours to Alcatraz prison, where Al Capone was held, are popular. In Romania, "dark tourists" wander through the ruins of Poenari Fortress: historians consider it, not Bran, the true castle of Dracula.
Backpacker Tourism
Tolkien Tourism.
The "Lord of the Rings" trilogy and the films based on the book have achieved immense success around the globe, creating millions of fans of the world of hobbits, elves, and orcs. This phenomenon has sparked a specific type of tourism.
Tolkien tourism has two directions. The first is the search for and visiting the fictional, unreal world of "The Lord of the Rings," and the second is visiting places associated with the book and the film. Most tourists travel to distant New Zealand, where the trilogy was filmed.
Business Tourism.
These are trips aimed at establishing or maintaining contacts with business partners. Business tourism encompasses travel for work purposes without earning income at the place of assignment. Unlike leisure trips, the decision to go on a business trip is usually made by someone else (a supervisor).
Business tourism is directly related to large cities, where industry, trade, science, and culture primarily develop. The largest cities where these meetings and business negotiations take place include Paris, London, Frankfurt, Rome, Amsterdam, Madrid, Geneva, and Barcelona.
The World Tourism Organization (WTO) includes trips for participation in congresses, general meetings of any organization of a diplomatic or other nature, conferences, workshops, fairs, exhibitions, and international salons, etc., in business tourism.
Among business tourists, the WTO includes truck drivers, commercial agents, flight attendants, tour guides, and others who are constantly on the move and performing their professional duties outside their usual environment. All of them can rightly be considered tourists at work.
However, business tourism is often subdivided into business trips; congress and exhibition; and incentive tourism (from English incentive - motivating, encouraging).
Space Tourism
In contrast to backpacking, space travel is the most expensive type of tourism, costing astronomical amounts of money. The world's first space tourist, Dennis Tito, paid $20 million for a flight to the ISS in 2001. Now that state monopolies on space are a thing of the past, private companies are building their own spaceports and spaceships, and some are already selling tickets for future suborbital flights. Virgin offers 2.5 hours in space for $250,000, while XCOR Aerospace charges $95,000.
Another interesting initiative is the Mars One project, where participants can travel to Mars for free without a return ticket to establish the first Martian settlement. The first crew of four will fly to Mars in 2024, with subsequent flights becoming regular — every two years.
Educational Tourism.
This is a derivative of cognitive tourism. This type implies not just familiarization with a certain culture, history, and customs, but also the completion of a specific educational course while staying in another country. It typically involves longer tours, usually lasting from 15 days to 3 months, but can also be designed for a longer period.
Educational tourism includes language courses, including summer schools for children; internships that do not involve earning income in the country one is traveling to; special trips aimed at studying specific disciplines: culinary arts, management, etc.; and trips to sports camps for professional athletes for additional training.
All these trips can be accompanied by regular leisure activities; however, in this case, leisure will not be their main goal. Also, in the vast majority of cases, educational tourism implies travel within a strict program, the duration of which will equal the length of stay.
To obtain a visa for this type of tourism, confirmation from the host side is also required.
Medical Tourism.
It is based on the need for treatment of various diseases. Medical tourism has several varieties characterized by different means of impacting the human body (climatotherapy; thalassotherapy; milk therapy). Often, multiple types of impact can be used simultaneously.
One of the varieties of medical tourism is the well-known balneological tourism, which is associated with thermal and healing waters. Currently, mud therapy and thalassotherapy (wrapping with seaweed using mineral water) are actively developing.
