The ROI of travel


We are approaching summer time once again and people will start to plan or even travel. We have seen a lot of articles, travel agencies, airlines, local tourism board, or even banks promoting travel because YOLO (You Only Live Once), or perhaps they simply want you to use their products and services. But I say that travel can indeed broaden one’s horizons, and I’m not just talking about business trips but also leisure travels or even weekend getaways.

Sometimes travel is not possible for all of us, even short distances. Maybe we still do not have that confidence to explore places we've never been before. Perhaps we have incurred some debt or even our income simply does not permit it.

Travel can be one of the most life-changing experiences of your life. If you never go anywhere, you'll have a very limited view of the world.

Experience is the best Teacher

There’s a lot to learn about yourself as well as other people that you travel with or interact along the way. You will learn a lot about one’s culture, including the foreign culture that you are faced with.

Travel also forces us into different, perhaps unexpected challenges, which not only challenges our perceptions of the world but also our own creativity, inner strength and personality as we react and learn to interact with these new situations.

Innovation and Inspiration

Ideas require some form of stimulus to manifest, if you are a frog in a well then it may be difficult to encounter new things or ideas. Creativity is born of new experiences, sights, sounds, smell and comes from the excitement of doing new things.

Some people I know travel to other countries to even copy existing ideas that has potential to be replicated and grow big here in the Philippines. It can also be a good opportunity to make new friends, network and connect when you are in a new environment.

Psychological, Physical
Health Benefits

•Lowers Anxiety – studies had shown that hiking outdoors can have a remarkable positive impact on people. This in effect will improve one’s mood and also lowers one’s stress levels.

•Good for the brain and the heart – We’ve read that travel has been the go-to cure for a broken heart. Perhaps this is true, but experiencing new things, especially in the middle of nowhere surrounded by nature can also decrease muscle tension, lowers blood pressure and even strengthen the immune system over time.

•Builds your self-image – this includes your confidence, self-esteem and belief; by travelling, trusting yourself will be your first hurdle, but after overcoming that you will feel more confident and start your journey towards self-development – becoming better versions of ourselves. This can aid you in your career, or perhaps finally writing the book or pursuing that business idea for a startup and the like.

Treat Travel as a form of lifetime education investment. The more we travel, the more we see. The more we see, the more we grow. The more we grow, the more we change and evolve as a human being. Investment in travel is indeed an investment in yourself.

"The World Is a Book and Those Who Do Not Travel Read Only One Page" – Saint Augustine of Hippo

--

The writer is an RFP® - registered financial planner of RFP PH, Licensed Real Estate Broker and Director of CERTA, Inc., a family estate planning and investment advisory firm. To know more, please visit www.certa.ph
--

Originally Published in Philstar - The Freeman Newspaper last March 07, 2017.
The ROI of travel The ROI of travel Reviewed by Vernon Joseph Go on Monday, March 20, 2017 Rating: 5

No comments