Does anyone care to hazard an intelligent definition on the difference between the two, if any?

I think a tourist is someone for whom a trip is a list of sights to check off. A traveler is someone who is more interested in the people and culture of the destination.

Just my opinion ...

That's a good answer.

I think travelers are people who don't want to think of themselves as tourists.

it is the contact with people rather than just the emphasis on seeing the sites which delineates the two.

I am currently up on a few chat rooms looking for locals in BS As whom I can invite for a drink or coffee and have a conversation about their lives. In addition will certainly see the sights!

Andrewdavid

I think a tourist is also a traveller and a traveller is also a tourist.

I think a tourist is a person who takes organized tours.

I think a tourist is someone who does not "absorb" the culture of the place. Agree with not getting to know the people, their way of life, language and customs.

A tourist is someone who continues to buy bottle water NO MATTER HOW SAFE THE WATER is to drink.

A traveller finds out if it is safe to drink and if the answer is YES, they drink the tap water.

Then I guess I'm a tourist

A Traveler is someone who gets to know locals other than the maid, Waiter & Bartender.

This is an absolutely pointless discussion.

Hey, what's wrong with getting to know your room maid? You gotta start somewhere. And in my experience they are likely to be the most tolerant and patient with my Spanish.

(I agree with ag3046 this is a pointless topic, that only leads to arguments and one-ups-manship.)

Yeah, don't care for this one, either. Pretty much every one here likes to think they're a traveler and that OTHERS are tourists. My knee jerk reaction was to say that tourists go to Costa Rica and travelers go to Guatemala, but that wouldn't be nice, would it?

And on the water thing, after a year a sickness in the 80's, a ruptured, gangrenous appendix, and weeks in intensive care from CA food/water, I reserve the right to be more careful than the average bear with water, even though I like to think of myself as a traveler. That said, I haven't visited anyplace in CA where the water's considered safe, so it hasn't come up.

Happy trails, tourists and travelers alike!

Suze NOTHING is WRONG with getting to know the maid. My point was evidently not clear. Getting to know service people is fine but it's even better to get to know a variety of people in the country you are visiting. I actually have spent nights in peoples home I met on buses, beaches or elsewhere. Now that is not a every day thing but it has happened. In addition I have had regular Mexican Nationals Amigos visit me at my home here in California.

Stewbear, Well, you're lucky is all!! Both for getting to spend a LOT more time in Mexico than I have, and knowing enough Spanish for conversation to meet local people.

The hotel maid is at least a place to start, since many "tourists" seem to treat her as if she is invisible (which drives me crazy).

Actually that point rings true back to the original posted question. It's much easier to be a Traveler, when you speak the local language fluently.

Interesting, although probably pointless, topic!

Could it be that a tourist becomes a traveler? Back to Jeff's observation, don't most of us go with the primary purpose of seeing this or that? I guess for some, that's the ENTIRE purpose, thus making them tourists. . .???

Others of us (or so I like to think) also go with the intention of absorbing the culture, meeting new people, appreciating the difference in cultures.

It's the connotation--tourist sounds like someone who goes just to get what they can for themselves in the way of sightseeing and souvenirs! "Traveler" sounds like someone who shares the best (hopefully) of themselves with the inhabitants of the land they travel.

I know that hopefulist doesn't go to Costa Rica, but I've no doubt she is a traveler to Guatemala and the other areas of CA that she has grown fond of--because she leaves a bit of herself there in the hearts of people she meets. Same for many of us with Costa Rica--I guess our family started out as tourists, but fell in love with the people, made friends there, and now consider ourselves travelers back and forth between our home in the U.S. and a place away from home that we truly feel part of.

Perhaps the difference is just one of attitude.

LOL--has anyone checked Webster's?!

shillmac

will you stop getting involved in this thread.... ooops !!!

Percy