Tourist, traveller or both?

Earlier, I discussed the definition of the word ‘tourist.’ This definition gives no specific positive or negative meaning. However, some people see the term tourist as having a negative meaning and rather want to be named a ‘traveller.’ Jacobsen mentions anti-tourist roles, which he uses to describe people who are part of a certain role (here the tourist role), but don’t want to be connected to the identity that comes along with this role. They do want to be identified with the identity of a traveller, which means someone who goes off the beaten track and wants to know the real culture of the places he visits, instead of going on a planned cruise and only visiting the ‘highlights’ like tourists are expected to do. 

In this blog I try to show you certain things you didn’t know about Groningen, especially about the musical part of the city. Considering this, you could say that I rather want to show this blog from a traveller’s perspective, although I do know that I’m also showing you some things that are considered to be ‘typical from Groningen’ and every tourist would visit.

Today I want to tell you something about a location that I think is typical to visit for travellers. It is not mentioned in travel guides and you have to know some locals to know about it. The location is Vera, that is founded by students and is also visited by a lot of students. I was here for the afterparty of the festival ‘Let’s Gro.’ As you can see on the pictures there was a band playing enthusiastically and a lot of people were watching them. Everyone was enjoying themselves in their own way, regardless of what others thought of them. Altogether, this gives you the feeling of being a real traveller.

Vera - afterparty Let's Gro

Reference:

McCabe, S. (2005). 'Who is a tourist?’: A critical review. Tourist Studies 2005; 5; 85.