Travel — as practiced by most Americans in the 21st century — has increasingly come to be seen as wasteful and aristocratic, a driver of environmental damage and cultural insensitivity, and the pandemic has only increased the pace of the discussion about the future of travel.

As the Boldins discovered, there are a lot of alternatives to the model we currently practice, enabled by jumbo jets, giant cruise ships and interstate highways. There are ways to make travel sustainable, educational, regenerative, philanthropic. Jake Haupert formed The Transformational Travel Council in 2017 to help embrace and focus this way of thinking.

The council promotes travel that’s intensely personal, however that’s achieved. It has more than 300 members and its concepts are gaining popularity as people seek something … more.

“I started to see how people were traveling and what traveling had become in the last 20 to 30 years, especially with the onset of online travel agencies and Expedia,” Haupert said. “There was just a significant disconnect in terms of the power of travel and what was actually unfolding in the field and on the trip. It was centered around and continues to be around entertainment, and then people traveling with a sense of entitlement, and often looking at it from the perspective of, ‘What can I get out of it,’ instead of, ‘What can I give?’”

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So how can travel advisors tackle overtourism? Jake Haupert, the co-founder and CEO of the Transformational Travel Council, an organization that works to use travel as a vehicle to make meaningful life changes, believes they must take a holistic approach in creating trips for their clients, one that is mindful of the impact it will have on them and the places they visit.

Travel advisors — whom Haupert trains — can combat overtourism by taking a proactive approach in terms of guiding, supporting and empowering travelers. He believes travel advisors should include a couple of simple words in their dealings with customers: Why and how. “Typically, a travel advisor is an order taker,” he said. “They’ll start with ‘Where do you want to go and what do you want to do?'”

“And what we would say is you should start with ‘Why do you wanna go and how can we use the experience of travel to help you have a deeper experience?'”

Haupert views transformational travel as “intentionally traveling to stretch, learn and grown into new ways of being and engaging with the world.” So it’s not surprising he believes travel advisors should have this approach when guiding travelers away from destinations burdened by overtourism.

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Will future travel still deliver the life changing experiences we crave?

Yes, says Jake Haupert, co-founder of the Transformational Travel Council, but we need to travel more mindfully, to understand why we’re travelling and what we want to get out of it.

Based in Seattle, Washington, he thinks the pandemic has already changed how we view travel.

“And I think we’re being a lot more thoughtful about how we engage, any sort of travel, near or far and recognizing that it’s more about depth than distance.”

Launched in 2017, Haupert says the Transformational Travel Council is part of a global movement that’s gaining momentum. It offers membership as well as programs and courses for both the travel industry and individuals, including The Transformational Travel Journal. “It’s like having your own travel coach,” he adds.

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En 2021 viajaremos, pero no para marcar cruces en el mapa, sino para compartir momentos importantes con familia y amigos. ¿Un destino? Los lugares en los que hemos sido felices.

"La pandemia le ha dado a nuestro mundo la oportunidad de mirar tanto hacia adentro como hacia el turismo, que es un catalizador para el crecimiento personal y la concienciación propia y de los demás", explicaba a la publicación Jake Haupert, cofundador de la organización Transformational Travel Council. La misma se centra en planificar viajes más sostenibles y con un propósito específico. "Creo que estamos viendo un despertar de los viajes impulsados por valores", continuaba.

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Covid-19 has led to the possibility of living experiences in familiar places. We are all traveling together, we face challenges, we are out of our comfort zones, our old thought patterns need to be totally reinterpreted.

The Tranformational Travel Councilproposes a reading in which the journey is intended not only in a physical sense, but also as an opportunity for personal reflection even in a context of proximity. The TTC proposes some possible dimensions: developing one's own awareness of the meaning that travel has for us; knowing how to look at the places to which we belong with new eyes; seek cultural experiences that are bearers of spiritual values; be more attentive and aware of our travel choices and the impact they have on others, on nature and on our civilization; respect communities in terms of environmental sustainability; enhance what we experienced during the trip in a perspective of awareness and practices to bring into our everyday life, in terms of new skills, attitudes and behaviors.

Alongside these dimensions, some transversal themes that should accompany a transformational journey into its most intimate sphere are: becoming more empathic, humble, grateful and compassionate; embrace a mentality capable of recognizing one's identity and accepting challenges and obstacles as an opportunity for personal growth and development.

This is the case of “micro adventures” (Goodnow, 2020), exciting or relaxing activities or experiences characterized by short distances, local destinations, low-carbon means of transport and economic and social resources invested in local communities.

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The inner journey
By setting the stage for travellers to have personal, revelatory moments about how impactful sustainable travel can be, there is potential for a shift in perception and behaviour that extends far past their trip’s end date. “Where sustainability has fallen a bit short is that it’s often listed as criteria, and if it’s just criteria then it's difficult to get people to embody it,” says Jake Haupert, founder and CEO of the Transformational Travel Council (TTC), an organization aimed at intentionally travelling to transform how we live our lives and engage with the planet.

“This is about embodiment; this is about behavior change,” says Haupert. Haupert and his team are working on developing a Transformative Destinations Program in collaboration with Regenerative Travel, which will help regions adopt regenerative tourism principles to create opportunity for inner and outer transformation to occur.

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From a renewed commitment to sustainable tourism to creative ways to globetrot from home, here’s how travel authors, bloggers, and podcasters are navigating.

We’ll seek quality over quantity

High-mileage travelers are putting more thought into their bucket lists. “COVID-19 has allowed me to rethink how and why I travel,” says Erick Prince of The Minority Nomad. “It’s given me the freedom to explore travel projects for passion instead of the paycheck.” Rather than focusing on paid gigs, the blogger, who lives in Thailand, says he’ll be embarking on a self-funded project to highlight off-the-beaten-track provinces in his adopted country.

Eulanda Osagiede, of Hey Dip Your Toes In, is putting the breaks on international trips, citing travel as a privilege many take for granted. “Privilege comes in many forms, and the act of recognizing our travel-related ones have called us to think about traveling more intentionally and less often—if ever the world begins to look similar to its pre-pandemic days.”

Take action: Check the Transformational Travel Council for resources and recommendations on operators who can help organize meaningful journeys.

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A discussion that needs to be heard by our entire industry with three icons in sustainable travel costas christ, Jake Haupert CEO of The Transformational Travel Council and Richard Bailey, Owner of The Brando & Chairman of Pacific Beachcomber. Watch it on-demand and share!!

- Richard H. Bailey: Chairman and CEO at Pacific Beachcomber S.C.

- Jake Haupert: Co-Founder The Transformational Travel Council

- Costas Christ: President at Beyond Green Travel

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ver the last year, The Long Run has been exploring how it can help members to create, deliver, market and enhance transformational travel experiences. To be truly sustainable, we believe that travel needs to influence people beyond the length of their stay.

To support us on this journey, we’ve been working closely with The Transformational Travel Council who have now launched a kickstarter for a new journal written by expert Eric Rupp. Here we ask Eric what transformational travel means to him.

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She said this “building back better” trend was encapsulated in a quote from Jake Haupert, Co-Founder of Transformational Travel Council, who said: “There is a global awakening occurring and there needs to be a change in mindset, to go beyond sustainability and embrace regenerative and transformational tourism.”

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