Essay Topic: Does travel help to promote

understanding and communication

between countries?
There is no question that tourism is now a key sector of globalized capitalism. In fact it is the
world’s biggest industry: it accounts for 10.4% of global GDP and provides 8.1% of jobs
worldwide, employing an estimated 200 million people.

Travelling has some advantages which help to promote understanding and communication
between countries. “Travelling broadens the mind more than reading” says a very popular
Turkish proverb. I agree with him. It is true as long as one embraces experiences with open
mind as it can expand your limited horizon and knowledge. Travelling is seeing new
countries, meeting new people, experiencing new things, learning a different side of life and
more. It is a short adventurous outdoor class trip to diverse cultures, foreign languages,
unique histories and different political climates.

As the century change, people don’t think that work to work everyday is essential, but think
“Recreation is for those who work the hardest.” Because of this notion, travel is more and
more popular. It plays the role to bring refreshment and recreation to people’s busy and
tiring lives. Many companies offer travel as a bonus for staff who work diligently. Not only it
increases the working power but also increases the income o the country. (Fehl, 2010)

To visit different countries really can augmentation the knowledge. Every country has their
own culture. In order to understand and communicate with each other, people should try to
accept dissimilar thing such as manners, food, characteristics and etc. Some culture may
make you feel a tad uncomfortable, but one of the interests of travelling is to try to speak
other languages, live with the natives, and explore the varieties of food that you have never
tried before. And at the same time, you also communicate your culture to this country. A
country has its native culture and unique custom that is different to our country. The
lifestyle, habit, food are not totally similar with your own country’s. Oneself have to
embrace and understand the exotic culture and these, you can’t learn from books like
accounting. Seeing is believing. “Wanderlust,” is a German loanword which loosely means,
the love of travel. Besides changing the perspective of mindsets, it also changes a person’s
way of accepting cultures. From China to Italy, from Greece to Arab, from America to Russia,
different geographical continents have a vast share of cultures.

Travelling encourages us to learn and adapt. Many individuals who travel constantly will
face language barriers, thus forcing them to learn and embrace a new language to “survive”
in a particular place. We learn a new language and it also gives others a change to learn our
language from us. (Mason, 2003) Exchanging thoughts, ideas and skills with others from
different places and or countries helps in the area of complicated problem solving. This kind
of activities helps the resident of two countries know each other. When you come back to
own country, just share the experiences and journey, which allow more people understand
other type of lifestyle. Also encourages them to travel and see it for themselves.

It is no doubt that travel could help to promote understanding and communication between
countries. But it is essential to remember that “While in Rome, do as the Romans do.” If
you’re not flexible and do not want to blend in their lifestyle, you will miss out a lot of
interesting things, valuable knowledge and precious memories. (Mason, 2003)

Travelling helps to improve understanding and communication between individuals. This

gives us opportunities to discover what each other is really like, not what we have been led
to believe by politicians and media. One can make many new friends by travelling. Having
friends in different part of the world could come in handy when you decided to pay his or
her country a visit. You will be totally lost and clueless as where to go, how to get to places
and experiencing new things. Having a friend there will loosen up this problem and also he
or she could keep an eye on you. Return the favour when the friend pays a visit to your
humble country. (Fehl, 2010) This way, it will strengthen the friendship bond and also
reduce the misunderstanding and discrimination between the countries. One would think
that your native culture is the best and better than the other countries in a bias perspective,
but as much as preserving your local culture is important, appreciating and accepting other
country’s culture is as important.

Travelling is not always easily affordable. Even though the concept of a “staycation” – a
holiday taken in our own home country and even our hometown in some cases – is more
popular than ever, going somewhere further away is still something to desire. But the fact is
that a foreign holiday has some things that one in your home country just cannot match.
Going to a foreign country gives you the chance to see and experience another way of life.
Though this sounds like hell on earth for some people, the best holidays will always be a bit
different – if things are always the same, then what makes them special?

It is worth taking a foreign holiday at least once in your life. The experiences that foreign
travel will open up to you are ones worth having and repeating. They really do broaden the
mind, and the results can be absolutely enthralling. It can change someone’s perspective
and way to lead your life.

I of course agree that travelling help to promote better understanding and communication
between countries. Travel is the exchange of people from one country to another, and as
such, also an exchange of information and culture. People who travel bring their own
culture with them when they go to another country. When they experience the country that
they travel to, this promotes an exchange of information, as when the person goes back to
his own country, he will have more knowledge about the country and himself. It also
promotes communication because when you travel, you have to interact with the people of
where you go. This is an opportunity to exchange information with those people.

For instance, people who are born with silver spoon in their mouth will never be aware of
the poverty and misery that people in poorer nations go through. Of course, thanks to the
media, they might see pictures or news reports on TV of poor people in some third world
nation, but those few minutes may not make a large impact on their lives. However, if they
travel to those countries and have first-hand experience of the living conditions in those
regions, then their outlook on life itself would change. In fact, many people who go through
such experiences, like those who helped during the 2006 Tsunami, come back with a much
greater appreciation for the comforts and the kind of lifestyle that they enjoy in their own
country.

Likewise, people in underdeveloped nations need to be exposed to the advancements in

developed countries, so that their minds were not limited by the restrictions imposed by
their poverty. There are many grant programs that enable students from third world
countries study in the developed nations of the world. They need to make use of this
wonderful opportunity to develop their resources and expand the limits of their mind.(Fehl,
2010)
This kind of mutual exposure would go a long way in promoting understanding between
peoples of different cultures, races and languages. Travel can therefore promote
understanding and communication between the different nations of the world.
References
Crouch G.I, Perdue R.R, Timmermans H.J.P, Uysal M., 2004. Consumer Psychology of
Tourism, Hospitality and Leisure. 3rd ed. Cambridge, USA: CABI

Fehl, Pamela, 2010. Communication, Education, and Travel. 1st ed. New York, USA: Infobase
Publishing

Mason, Peter, 2003. Tourism Impacts, Planning and Management. 1st ed. Oxford: Butterworth-
Heinemann.

O'Sullivan, Kerry, 1994. Understanding Ways: Communicating Between Cultures. 1st ed. Sydney,
NSW, Australia: Hale & Iremonger.

Sigala Marianna, Leslie David, 2005. International Cultural Tourism: Management, implications

and cases. 1st ed. Oxford: Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann.

Williams, S.W, 1998. Tourism Geography. 1st ed. London: Routledge

Jewell Sarah. 1998. Travel & Tourism: Proof that travel really can broaden the mind. [ONLINE]
Available at:[Link]
[Link]. [Accessed 08 December 10].