ISSUES
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by Sarah Suydam
Exploring and Understanding Immersive Travel
When you hear the term “immersive travel,” you might
think you understand what that implies. Isn’t all travel immersive in some way, after all?
disenchanted with the overly familiar and mundane aspects
Not necessarily!
of their own life,” Hardcastle said of traveler’s views during the
There’s a notable distinction between travel in its most
pandemic. “But also there’s a flipside to this: People started
basic form and what elevates it to an immersive experience
exploring new hobbies during COVID and when lockdown
your groups not only crave, but will want to experience over
restrictions were lifted, they finally had the ability to go out and
and over again.
explore those new interests on a deeper, more interactive level.”
Samantha Hardcastle, founder of the Storied Experience
And while you may be tempted to further categorize
(thestoriedexperience.com) and Reverie (wereverie.com),
immersive travel into specif ic t y pes, Hardcastle warns
understands this difference well, as she’s spent the last 13 years
against doing so.
working with a variety of experience designers, tour operators
“I find these categorical groupings of tourism do more
and activity hosts to help them differentiate and stand out in a
harm than good because it keeps our focus too narrow,
competitive market. Her app, Reverie, is an immersive journey
closed off to other ways to immerse travelers,” she explained.
mapping tool aimed at making the whole process easier.
“Travelers who a re seek i ng i m mersion a re t y pica l ly
Hardcastle says the best way to explain the contrast
curious, adventurous travelers—they don’t like to be put
between what’s considered immersive and not is to think of
into boxes. They shouldn’t be forced to decide bet ween
something that’s simply surface level.
culinary immersion or adventure immersion. Real life isn’t
“When something is surface level, there’s a lack of depth and lack of novel, attention grabbing stimulation,” Hardcastle said. “This leads to a lack of emotional resonance, resulting in travelers who are just moving through a destination on auto-pilot.”
experienced this way, so why should travel be?” The most immersive experiences, Hardcastle said, are the ones that combine all aspects of culture into one journey. “If we look at the ‘cultural iceberg,’ we want to ensure an experience is of course expressing a variety of surface culture—
Great! But why does this differentiation matter so much
what people see, such as food and drink and the arts—but more
today? Follow ing the COV ID-19 pandemic, searches for
importantly, we want to introduce travelers to deep culture, a
immersive travel have undoubtedly increased.
less tangible form of culture such as beliefs, values, traditions,
“I believe this [increase] is because people had become so
beauty ideals, etc.,” she said. “A recent experience I did in Sicily started with a canyon hike, which took us through an old church, and ended with lunch in an old cheese cave hosted by a
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