Characteristics of FIT that you should know
Gone are the days when we went in search of travel agents and tour guides to take us on holiday trips. The FIT traveler is considered the “in thing.” Of course, apart from the precondition that a leisure traveler is fit and healthy, the abbreviation FIT herein refers to a Fully Independent Traveler.
Like most sports or industries have their own common terms or abbreviations, the term FIT is frequently used in the tourism industry. For promoting tourism locales, hotels or resorts, and transport options for traveling, the term FIT is not just relevant but significant as well.
The FIT, i.e., a Fully Independent Traveler, refers normally to single, individual travelers who do not take the help of any agency or tour guide for their travel needs and instead plan their own itinerary or route and staying options. Fully Independent Travelers do not have any set plans and, more importantly, are not part of any large tourist groups at all. They might come as singles, couples, or as a small family, and their ages can range anywhere between 18 and 81 years. They could be young and just before stepping into college they might want to explore the world outside their homes, or they could be retirees who have not lost the enthusiasm to travel independently and enjoy new experiences in life, and everyone else in between these two sets of people. Although the advancement of internet technologies has played a major role in boosting this segment of travelers now, they did not originate recently or with the boom of available online technology or with interactive tourism. The internet is being used by Fully Independent Travelers to research and find a holiday destination of their choice, arrange for their travel to and within this place, and maybe even find hotels, resorts, or home stays that cater to their personal preferences and budgets.
Fully Independent Travelers have enough money, are self sufficient, and can afford to spend comfortably on all their travel expenses. Taking the time to go on vacation to places that kindle their interests, be it locally or internationally, the Fully Independent Traveler can be of two kinds. FITs could either have specific interests in mind, such as wanting to test or develop their own physical and mental stamina on adventure trips such as hiking in the wilderness, or across deserts, or might want to fulfill their ambitions to study and research ancient ruins or the exhilarating world underwater. On the other hand, they could be without any particular agenda and be open to experiencing new foods, cultures, architecture, and history that are entirely alien to what they are accustomed to at home. Non traditional and unconventional are terms that are more suited for the tastes of Fully Independent Travelers in general.
