Are you a traveler or a tourist?

 

I was talking to a friend about another friend who recently visited a place and then he asked me "is your friend a traveler or a tourist"? I paused for a minute because i interchangeably use the two words and in my head i was like oh they actually mean two different things. I'm sure there are other people out there with this misconception, so i thought it would be great to talk about it in this post.
So what is the difference between a traveler and a tourist really? I call this an unending debate because everyone i asked about it had a different opinion. I read up a couple articles on the internet and personally i don't think stereotyping the way any one decides to travel should be a thing but anyway lets see the difference with these descriptive pictures from an Indian traveling app company Holidify.

So basically travelers sync into the culture of the places they visit and are more concerned with exploring unpopular locations that aren't necessarily tagged as tourist attractions; they travel mostly without planning much for feeding, transportation or even accommodation (A traveler can sleep in a park or on top of a mountain cos it don't just matter lol). You find travelers eating with the locals to really get the feel of being in a place, they aren't  about eating for comfort. A typical traveler does not travel with a map, they rely solely on instincts for exploring the destination . On the other hand, a tourist is a lover of popular locations, they prefer the luxurious way of traveling with planning properly for feeding, accommodation and transportation; paying more attention to popular tourist attraction and basically enjoying the comfort of their destination.    

So what does ANNE think about the difference?   

I don't think that traveling should be stereotyped really; with the characteristics I've shown here i can decide to call myself a traveler but sometimes even when i travel i just want to chill and enjoy the luxury of a place not every time hustle hustle lol and that doesn't make me less of a traveler. People should travel and enjoy their differences in preference without unnecessary pressure of categorizing.

The floor is open for debate 😏 leave your contributions and valid points down in the comment section.

Remain Blessed.