Not too long ago, travel and adventure meant going out of your small town (be it even to the nearby woods). You left the comfort and safety behind and took significant risks, especially if you traveled solo.

Today, numerous travel niches have become popular, each with its own tourism appeal and unique perspective that it offers.

In this post, I will list the major types of travels that I consider to be broad enough to deserve a mention as a travel niche. These tourism niches have big enough market demand to sustain as an independent category on their own.

Travel Niches & Trends

• Adventure Travel – Adventure tourism is the fastest growing and biggest travel niche today
• Nature and Wildlife Tourism (aka Ecotourism) – another trend which will continue to grow
• Cultural Tourism – traveling for the purpose of exploring various culture, and cultural & world heritage sites 
• Medical, Dental, & Fertility Tourism – traveling for medical purposes
• Wellness Tourism – traveling to seek tranquility, healing, meditation, and nature retreats
• Music (and Music Festivals) Tourism – popular with young adults
• Culinary Tourism – traveling for food, to eat well is to live well
• Wine, Cheese, & Beer Tourism – traveling to taste different wines from different regions
• Nightlife and Party Tourism – traveling to various party destinations 
• Roadtripping – traveling by car with a group of friends 
• Extreme Sports Tourism – traveling to mountains
• Highpointing – Hiking, climbing, or driving to the highest elevation point of a state, country or continent
• Sports Tourism (Golf, etc.) – either to play or watch
• Shopping Tourism – traveling exclusively for shopping purposes
• Religious Pilgrimages – walking, biking, or traveling to religious & spiritual sites

• Off-the-Grid Travel – traveling to and living off the grid in a minimalistic way
• Scenic Train Travel – touristy scenic train rides with focus on dining & wining
• Space Tourism – exploring the outer atmosphere, earth from above, and outer space
• Bookstores & Literary Tourism – visiting cool bookstores and fictional or real sites related to books and authors
• Tolkien Tourism – exploration of Tolkien’s middle earth and LOTR related sites
• Volunteer Travel – traveling & volunteering to work on non-profit charity projects
• Film & TV Tourism – traveling to various film and TV series filming sites (eg. Game of Thrones)
• Archaeology & History Tourism – traveling to ancient ruins, archeological sites, and historical places
• Ghost, UFO, & Haunted Tourism – traveling to haunted places and UFO siting sites
• Genealogy Tourism – tracing or returning to your roots
• Jungle Tourism – traveling and camping in the deep and remote jungles 
• Underwater Tourism – exploring the marine life and ocean through Scuba, Snuba, Snorkeling
• Shark Tourism – seeking underwater thrills & shark encounters across the globe
• Rural and Village Tourism – countryside relaxation 
• Astronomy Tourism – visiting sites that provides excellent views of the stars and night sky
• Inner city Tourism – exploring your own town or city in great details 
• Weekend Tourism – traveling every weekend (mostly nearby attractions)
• Ghetto Tourism – traveling & exploring the living conditions in slums and ghetto

Deviant & Sad Trends

A beautiful ruin 

I was debating at first whether to lost the following sad trends or not? Listing them will give them more exposure, so at first, I thought I will leave them out. But then I thought, these trends are actually growing (financially speaking) so closing my eyes to these problems will not help solve these issues.

The best thing I can do is to use this platform and bring public awareness about these. Some of these may sound harmless or even exciting (drugs and sex for example), but please understand that both drugs and sex causes overall more damage, deaths, and harm to innocent lives (including children).

The best way you can help is first by not participating in them and therefore cutting off the financial incentive. Second, you can be aware that these problems exist and thus help to spread the word. (Fact: Even in Prague or Amsterdam, most of the girls working in the red light district are there against their will via deception, bribery, and manipulation.)

• Drug Tourism – mostly illegal and unsafe, please use common sense
• Sex Tourism (Male, Female, Trans) – again, please use common sense. Do not do anything that hurts other humans
• Dark Voyegeristic Tourism (Underground shady fights, deaths, & stuff) – please do not support or fund this industry by partaking in it. Anyone can be the next innocent victim of it
• War & Disaster Tourism – visiting sites with tragic past for pleasure (War, disaster, & genocidal sites, Nazi camps, etc.)
• Suicide Tourism (Important: if you are feeling suicidal, know that you’re not alone and confidential help is available for free. Please seek help. US Helpline | HelpGuide | Resource Center)
• Hunting Tourism (The Big 5 Games) – traveling to mainly Africa (South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya,
  Zimbabwe, Botswana, etc.) to hunt rare and endangered species such as Elephants, Lions, Rhinos among others. *Hunting* is very common in North America and Europe.

*Hunting is a personal choice. It’s a complex issue and would need an entire blog to discuss the various impacts and issues surrounding it. If you are not a hunter, please do not partake and support this industry.

As a starting point, please follow the first rule of life, do not kill life unless it is for your own or your family’s survival and safety. Also, the above category is about hunting the big animals (man of them endangered and at the point of extinction).