Amit Malhotra - March 02, 2021
Free independent travellers (FIT) are travellers who plan their own trips and prefer to travel alone or in small groups. They are the opposite of mass tourists, who travel in large groups and buy predefined travel packages. Eastern European markets are more engaged in mass tourism, while FIT tourism is becoming the norm in Western European and Scandinavian countries. For FITs, unique experiences are most important. If you can offer these, the FIT market is your primary target group.
FIT tourism is better defined as a way of travelling. Instead of comprehensive travel packages for groups, FIT tourism travelling is more personal and individual. Travellers design their own trips themselves, choose their own destinations and visits based on the information already they have. FIT tourism is the opposite of mass tourism; FITs prefer to create their own trips instead of following crowds.
FITs travel alone, as a couple or accompanied by a small number of people. The goal of FITs is to follow their own path, explore the things they want to see and with that create their own unique travelling experience. By planning their own trip, they can travel at their own pace, not bound to a group.
Free independent travellers are mostly well experienced and very individualistic travellers. Europeans tend to travel extensively as FITs, although to what extent varies by destination. Destinations which are safe and where infrastructure is better, tend to be popular among FITs. The FIT market is growing in most European countries.
The free independent traveller is looking for a unique experience, more so than a regular tourist. This includes, for example, contact with local communities and experiencing daily life. The highlight of a place for FITs is not a major tourist attraction, such as a landmark or another touristic highlight. FITs want to experience ordinary life in the places they visit, including doing and seeing things that locals do and see. Fully independent travellers want to meet and talk with locals to get a real feeling of how life is in their country.
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