Tourist vs. traveller

Tourist vs. traveller | What are the differences?

WHY IS THIS QUESTION IMPORTANT?
When I arrived in Malaysia, I tested Couchsurfing for the first time – I stayed with a local near Kuala Lumpur (thanks Simon ♥). We went on super nice day trips together and without him I would definitely never have visited some places. How should I know that the best food truck market is in a village 20 minutes away from KL?

Then we planned our trips for the following days and I said a certain sentence to Simon: “I don’t want to go to typical tourist places.” Tourists often annoy me … hold on. Am I not actually a tourist too?

Differences between a tourist and a traveller

Many people who like to travel in the social media community call themselves “travellers”. Aha. Clever. So am I a traveller, too? Yeah yes. I finally travel. But a tourist does that too. Where are the differences? And why do we even discuss it?

I haven’t been a backpacker for long. Since my first stop in Bangkok I have heard debates everywhere in the hostels about the differences between tourists and travellers.

These are the key differences that are discussed again and again:

OWN TITLE

A tourist doesn’t care if he’s called a tourist.
A traveller feels attacked immediately when he is called a tourist.

SIGHTSEEING

A tourist often has to chop off the entire sightseeing program.
A traveller also likes to go on sightseeing trips. However, he is primarily interested in finding places that are not included in every travel guide.

LOCAL FOOD

A tourist tries local food and then suffocates on the ‘little spicy’ meal and then prefers to use the well-known western food.
A traveller tries to get used to ‘little spicy’ every day and spends a lot of time in the toilet for the first few weeks. (Green curry and me = hate love)

KNOWN FAST FOOD

A tourist goes to the next McDonalds without being ashamed.
A traveller goes there too – but he doesn’t tell anyone.

GROUP BEHAVIOR

A tourist likes to travel in a group or with his entire family.
A traveller often travels alone or with another person and hates groups of tourists who look into a travel guide in the middle of the sidewalk.

NATIONAL LANGUAGE

A tourist learns the most important terms in the respective national language, such as please, thank you, my name is …
A traveller also learns these terms. But he thinks he can speak much more.

BEHAVIOR TO LOCALS

A tourist is (hopefully) nice and open-minded to the locals.
A traveller often establishes a deeper connection to the locals.

APPEARANCE

Tourist: selfie stick, city guide, socks with sandals – too cliché? I actually also have a selfie stick for my GoPro. 🙂
Traveller: tries to mingle with the locals and not to attract too much attention when taking pictures.

Why do we often have a negative opinion about tourists?

I notice myself that I always roll my eyes as soon as I spot a Korean with a giant camera or his iPad taking a picture. But I also take pictures.

Of course, the towel, which is on the deck chair before breakfast, is from a German package vacationer and not a backpacker. Is that correct? I also saved a hot spot in the morning on the Perhentians to cool off during the day.

There the guy with the sunburn is definitely English! They all can’t take the sun. Mhm. So I already had sunburn too. Last week on my butt. Not cool.

Maybe other travellers will label me as a wannabe backpacker because I carry a backpack that is far too large with me and I also use mascara on a beach day?!

Am I a tourist or a traveller now?

I enjoy travelling slowly and intensely without any time pressure. I love buying food at local markets. I often discover and explore paths off the typical tourist path. I’m not wearing an I ♥ NY t-shirt or a huge sun hat (maybe I should – I was whining about my sunstroke a few days ago). Can I call myself a traveller now? No matter how long I’m on the road or what general travel attitude I have – I’m always a tourist for the locals, right?

What do you think about it? Is a distinction important to you? In the end, we all just love to travel …

Lots of Love ♥