Activity holidays: six of the fastest growing alternatives to mass tourism
A growing number of tourists are seeking out experiences, taking trips to learn new skills or boost their wellness. Others indulge their morbid fascinations. These are among the most popular alternatives to mass-market tours
Special-interest tourism is a fast-growing and highly lucrative alternative to traditional mass-market travel, although if you find yourself in Mecca during the haj, you might fail to see the distinction.
Pigeonholing holidaymakers as mainstream or niche is no easy task: does taking a tour of St Mark’s Basilica, in Venice, or knocking back caipirinhas at the Rio Carnival make you a religious tourist?
As motives for travel diversify, so do the number of subsectors. Health tourism can refer to an affordable operation in a faraway hospital but it also encompasses a weekend of meditation and yoga at a spiritual retreat.
Culinary tourism could mean a visit to a local market to choose ingredients for a cooking lesson but, if you stop at a vineyard en route, have you become a wine tourist?
Stay overnight at the vintner’s farmhouse and by some definitions you’re now an agritourist as well.
Here are six special-interest genres enjoying unprecedented growth.