Throughout the years, I tried all kinds of tourism. When I was a kid, my parents were sending me in school camps, during the holidays. Then, when I grew up, I went on some guided tours around Europe and also started to travel independently. I also stayed in all forms of accommodation: camping (both back-country and organized), B&B, Hostels, Hotels (from one to five stars)… you name it.
At this moment, I personally prefer the independent travel most of the times as I think this form of tourism brings you the most benefits out of your trip, but if I take a look at the big picture, each form of travel suits better different kind of tourists. Let’s take a look at some of the advantages and disadvantages of each one, from the tourist point of view (there are also aspects related to the local economic impact, by example, but that won’t be the subject of this article).
The mass tourism
This is the most developed form of tourism as most travel agents sustain it and it has a very well developed infrastructure. Most of the time it is sold as guided tours (by example to visit more cities or countries on a fixed time-frame and schedule) or travel packages for which you can usually buy some extra-options at the destination.
Advantages of mass tourism:
- It is very safe. As the schedule is known in advance and the same infrastructure is used all the time, there are very few things that could go wrong.
- You don’t need to plan anything. Just pick a destination and pay the ticket, the travel agent will take care of everything else.
- You can get a higher level of comfort for less money. Because the tour operators book a big amount of rooms and flights for the whole year, they are able to get very low prices. That is why when booking an all-inclusive package you will pay for flight + hotel + food and drinks less than half the price you would pay for the same thing if you booked it yourself.
- You have, all the time, a guide to explain what you see. Sometimes, these guides are well trained and you can find a lot of interesting things, about the places you visit, from them.
Disadvantages of mass tourism:
- It offers almost the same experience no matter where you go, just the background is different. Most hotels offer standard amenities, having just a few local influences that are not even authentic.
- The optional trips you buy at the destination are meant to introduce you to the local culture and to help you visit the most important points of interest, but in reality you will get, at best, just a glimpse of these. If we talk about the culture, almost nothing you’ll see is authentic and when visiting the points of interest you will only get the chance to take a few pictures, as the allocated time won’t be enough to absorb what you see. For what you will have enough allocated time though, are the local shops with which the guys who organize the trips have personal deals.
Independent travel
It is a fast growing segment of tourism as booking tools and details about the destinations start to be more widely available. Some of these tourists prefer to plan and book everything in advance, while other prefer to plan their trips up-front only at a high level and leave the details for when they are at the destination.
Photo by Neil’s Photography – Copyrights of the image are reserved to him
Advantages of the independent tourism
- It’s flexible. As you don’t have a one size fits all schedule, you can visit exactly what you care about, stay into each place for how long you want and get into places where you would never go with a standard travel package.
- Most of the time is cheaper. If you don’t care about staying in 5 stars hotels, this kind of travel is much cheaper than the mass tourism because you can book different types of accommodation that are usually not available at the travel agents and you can also skip the commissions by booking from different websites or directly at the establishment’s owners.
- You can dive as much as you want into the local culture. By not staying in a resort hotel, or other places where the only locals you will meet are the people who work there, you get to understand better the traditions and the local way of life.
Disadvantages of the independent tourism
- Sometimes it takes you out of your comfort zone, as this kind of travel has a strong component of incertitude (you don’t know always where you will stay, how you will move from one place to another, how is the local food, etc.). Some people say this is the point where the real life begins, but for most of the people it is just a discomfort sentiment.
- It requires more planning and research because it is you who will have to look for flights (if necessary), accommodation, places you are going to visit, where you are going to eat and so on. In other words, you have to also do the travel agent’s job.
- There are times when you have to take quick decisions. As sometimes you may go on unbeaten paths, the plans you made at home may differ from what you find at the destination. This may occasionally require a change of plans.
As you see, it is hard to say which way is better. It actually depends more on your personality, the time you have available and your mood when you decide to take a holiday.
The mass tourism may suite you better if you are the kind of person who prefers to spend the vacations just to relax without having to think about any of the organizational aspects. The independent way may work better if you like a bit of spice during your free time and you also want to feed your soul while being on vacation.
So, what about you? Which one do you prefer? Let us know in the comments section below.
