I really love travelling and reading books on travel. And I like guided trip because of its reasonable benefits. I conducted this survey to find out where people want to go and to know opinions on guided traveling. Ten respondents answered to the survey. First, they were asked which they preferred, traveling abroad or domestic trip. 9 out of 10 participants said that they preferred traveling abroad to domestic one. Next, about guided trip, the responses were roughly divided between like and dislike. 30% of the participants answered they liked guided trip. As to the reason they preferred guided travel, two said that they could sightsee lots of famous spots at a time and one answered tourists could avoid problems which might happen in foreign countries such as language, safety, sudden changes of travel schedule. 5 respondents said they didn’t like guided travel and especially 2 out of 5 those respondents said that they hated guided travel. The only reason was that they wanted to plan their own itineraries. The rest two respondents said they didn’t care whether it was guided trip or not. Last, the most popular place they wanted to visit was Europe. Turkey, Africa and Jeolla Province was the next places.
Respondents’ preference for traveling abroad may result from Korea’s geographic location and government’s strict restriction on going abroad till the early 1980s. Korea is a far-east isolated peninsula country. It relatively takes long time for Koreans to go abroad comparing with Westerners’ trip to other countries. And people rarely got permissions to go abroad from authorities unless they have specific purposes. Since the strict regulations were eased, the number of people traveling abroad has been explosively increasing The above-mentioned travel restrictions might have influenced respondents’ preference for guided trip which enables tourists to tour many places within a short period. Next, the result that participants wanted their own itineraries suggests that they want travels which fit their interests. It also implies that the respondents aren’t afraid of communication problems while travelling because all are English teachers.
