Seeking for utopia or utopian travel

Abstract

We believe that travel, which is perhaps the most important element of tourism, should be questioned with the concept of utopia further. Associating the concept of utopia with travel will close a gap or lead to a new discussion. Therefore, we evaluated the relationship between travel and utopia in this paper. Following the philosophical basis of the concept of utopia, we have determined its equivalent in tourism literature as the transformation of utopian thought into travel. In this context, we held discussions within the scope of travelers who prefer more independent and longer travel than tourists. We realized that the aims of travelers who set out to their own utopian spaces, transform being on the road rather than arriving a destination. Focusing on these utopian travels, we embrace the hermeneutic paradigm in the paper. Hence, we propose a model by examining travels with utopian ideas through sociological and psychological discussions. The prominent concepts in this model were the social life-utopia and the escape-approach. Eventually, we mentioned related discussions and gave suggestions for future studies.