What is Experiential Travel?

Experiential travel can be best described as a traveller’s need for deeper immersion and for one to have a real authentic and local experience in the country they’re visiting. It could be from finding the best local restaurant, discovering a hidden beach or learning to cook the local cuisine. The traveller’s desire has been moving towards activity-based experiences, cultural exploration and culinary travel for a while now and the demand is continuously growing.

Why travellers prefer Experiential Travel and why it’s a growing trend?

How often do you look at tours and think, ‘this isn’t cutting it for me. It’s too cookie cutter.’ Many travellers are seeking something more personal when they travel to feel inspired. Not only understanding the country through its different angles, but also through the traditions, culture and arts. Travellers find that there’s no meaning when you’re just skimming the surface of a country.

Mass tourism is becoming less appealing to travellers with generic packaged tours that brushes the bare levels of the country’s culture. Travellers want authenticity when visiting a new country. Not only are travellers seeking out more adventurous and experiential travel, did you know that when researching activities to do in a destination, travellers view 27 various sites on average before booking? With the biggest deciding factor being the hunger for authentic travel in their visual content.

Experiential travel including cultural excursions with the community, cooking or painting classes and even outdoor activities such as abseiling and rock climbing have sky-rocketed over the past years and are leaving travellers yearning for a deeper connection with the local culture - something Buddyz is extremely passionate about in creating a more meaningful way for travellers to experience.

Interacting with the locals and gaining an insight on how they live through their stories is an eye-opening experience for most. Stepping outside the borders of joining a tour where the guide goes through a script, and instead connecting with a local person who has a deeper knowledge and is passionate about the country – who better than a local who has lived their life in the country to take you around? Not only is it a good experience for travellers but it also benefits the local community by giving back. Giving money back to the community helps protect and maintain the culture, lifestyle and tradition travellers have come to see. Getting a local person to show you around the city - off the beaten tracks and having an unforgettable experience you’ll never experience.

How is it changing the industry?

Travellers want a more cultural experience that is more than just getting a quick glance from the tour bus or rushing through a historic site without proper information about it. Wanting to know where the hidden gems are, getting off the beaten path and connecting with the local culture and people are causing companies to take a closer look at this high demand influx. Local people are offering a genuine and authentic experience to travellers, which force tour companies to partner with local players as well to tap into experiential tourism that has blossomed over the years.

Travel platforms such as Buddyz offer travellers to pair with locals to provide off the-beaten-track experiences to share their personal stories and bringing them to places no generic old school tour would do. We believe experiential tourism will continue to grow and overtake the old ways of travelling,

If your trips are starting to feel stale and familiar, our tip for you is to venture off the touristy path! Throw that itinerary out, plan something out of your comfort zone whether it’s solo travelling or even joining a community tour and making friends. Who knows? You could be lucky enough to meet your next travel partner or connect with someone special. We say experiential travel is a trend that is here to stay - what do you think?

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Buddyz is a travel platform powered by locals, a.k.a. the most knowledgeable and interesting experts, the ones that know the country best! We want to encourage people to travel more meaningfully, to immerse themselves in local culture, and to connect with people from the places they visit.

So on our platform, you will find what we call ‘Experiences’ for every interest - ranging from cultural walks, intimate meals at secluded local eateries to creative workshops and classes. All of which are led by locals and are vetted for quality.

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