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Experiential Travel


From top: Yumotoso - a hot spring resort in Kurokawa Onsen; produce farming.


MEDITATION AND YOGA ‘Holistic’ travel is becoming a popular link


WELLNESS,


on booking sites. Travelers may want to enjoy sunrise yoga,


VOLUNTEERING


From relatively low-key beginnings in community-based travel such as Jewish diaspora visits to Israeli kibbutzs, voluntourism is now big business. In 2015, Reuters reported that 10 million volunteers a year are spending up to $2 billion on the opportunity to ‘travel with a purpose’. According to Roslyn Parker of Travel to


do Good, “Whether a traveler is working alongside the local community as part of a volunteer project, taking a cooking class, or sharing a meal in the home of a local, these experiences connect the traveler to the destination and its people in a diff erent way.”


sunset meditation or just a few long days of peace and quiet. Asian countries have been the source of some of the best-known meditation techniques and, unsurprisingly, Japan, India, Sri Lanka and the south-east Asian countries of Cambodia, T ailand and Vietnam are fi rm favorites for those in search of inner peace in a tranquil, beautiful setting. Visitors can opt for anything from an ashram to a fi ve-star hotel with on-site yoga and meditation classes. T e emerging destinations of Burma and Bhutan are also establishing wellness centers. In Europe, yoga and meditation are more


formal. T e advantage here might be that the tutor is American and/or a native English speaker, and the accommodation will satisfy international expectations. In South America, it’s those countries with either ancient pre- Columbian cultures, such as Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia, or those with hot springs and a range of aquatic experiences — such as Chile and Argentina — that have the infrastructure and services to meet the demands of well- traveled overseas visitors. ▶


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