Dear friends,
I am excited to share with
you that I have authored a book on spiritualism and tourism and it is tentatively
titled, “Spiritual Tourism:
Tourists First, Tour Operators Second, And Destinations Third” Chip Conley, Founder of Joie de Vivre Hospitality and
Fest300 and Strategic Advisor for Airbnb has written a foreword for this book. Here
are the details about the book with a free chapter. I would appreciate if you
could share your thoughts about this book on social media channels including
Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
About The Book
“Travel is fatal to
prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it
sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things
cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's
lifetime.” ―Mark Twain
This book shares the author’s
four decades of experience as a traveler and his passion for traveling when he
served in the Indian Air Force. It explains spiritual tourism, explores
mindfulness, and outlines types of traveling. It differentiates between a
tourist and a traveler. It offers tips to travel safely. It connects traveling
with leadership and decision-making. It implores everyone to travel in their
lifetime to understand themselves and empathize with others to build a compassionate
world.
This book outlines spiritualism,
mindfulness, leadership, and lifestyle. It is a short course on spiritual
tourism, adventure, traveling, and trekking. You can easily toss the book into
a briefcase or purse and read here and there as time allows. It is a quick
reference guide for all learners, leaders, travelers, and spiritual seekers.
“The world is a book and
those who do not travel read only a page.” —Saint Augustine
I joined the Indian Air Force
in February 1982 and I have been traveling throughout my life. I volunteered to
travel in the Indian Air Force as I enjoyed traveling thoroughly. I was ordered
within a short duration to pack my luggage to travel to unknown destinations
due to service exigencies. I was eager to travel while serving. In fact, I was
born to travel. I traveled to many parts of India in Mi-17 Helicopter because I
was posted in a Helicopter Unit. I enjoyed immensely meeting new people and
trying a variety of local foods. Although life was challenging in the service I
enjoyed traveling. After leaving the service, I traveled with my wife and
children to many parts of India. Every year, we planned and traveled to
different destinations despite meager financial resources. It was a great
experience traveling entire India. I traveled to other parts of the world
especially Sri Lanka, Thailand, Hong Kong, China, and Malaysia. I had the
privilege of visiting Char Dham (Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath, and Badrinath)
in May 2019. During the pilgrimage, an idea flashed in my mind to author a book
on spiritual tourism.
What is Spiritual Tourism?
Spiritual tourism is to travel
to find purpose and meaning to your life. It elevates your physical, mental, and
emotional energies. It develops, maintains, and improves your body, mind, and
spirit. In a nutshell, it connects your body, mind, and soul. Hence, spiritual
tourism can be defined as traveling on pilgrimage to acquire enlightenment,
entertainment, and education to leave your footprints and take your memories back
to your home by expressing your gratitude to God.
Spiritual tourism is not connected
with any specific religion. It is different from religious tourism. Spiritual
tourism is to connect your body, mind, and soul while religious tourism is to seek
blessings from God based on your religious faiths and beliefs and attain
salvation. Spiritual tourism is a broader perspective than religious tourism. Religious
tourism is a subset of spiritual tourism.
The Significance of Spiritual
Tourism
Spiritual tourism falls in
the services sector. It increases employment opportunities and contributes to a
nation’s GDP growth. There are innumerable advantages of spiritual tourism. It
brings inner peace and happiness. It provides purpose and meaning to your life.
It encourages local cultures and their traditions. It protects their natural
gifts, talents, and arts. With the rapid growth in technology, there is more
disturbance to locals and natives. But with increased spiritual tourism, there
are opportunities to protect the nature and the natural talents of local
communities.
The local communities are
fortunate to see various people and observe their cultures, and customs by
staying in their native places. They feel empowered because they take pride in
their cultures and customs. They become more interested to protect their
history, traditions, and environment. They become more engaged and integrated
with mainstream society.
Spiritual tourism encourages
foreign investment indirectly as tourists bring foreign exchange. However, there
are several demerits with spiritual tourism. It increases sexual exploitation
and crimes. It destructs nature and disturbs the ecology. Overall, the merits
outnumber the demerits. Hence, spiritual tourism must be encouraged to enhance
empathy, compassion, peace, and prosperity.
Conclusion
There is a growing number of
employees globally going for spiritual vacations. It helps them reflect and
acquire peace, solitude, and relaxation. It improves their decision-making and
leadership abilities and skills.
You are blessed with one life
and you must lead a part of your life spiritually to overcome challenges. To
conclude, everyone must proceed on a spiritual tour to understand themselves
and empathize with others to build a compassionate global society.
Life is great!
Professor
M.S. Rao
Founder of MSR Leadership
Consultants, India
Thanks for reading!
Kindly share your thoughts
and comments below, I’m sure someone out there will find your story useful.
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