The vacation where the only plan was the sun lounger on the beach and a few days of rest is starting to lose ground. More and more Europeans, including Romanians, choose vacations where they learn to cook, model ceramics, study a foreign language or participate in traditional workshops. Behind this change is not only a new trend in tourism, but a profound transformation of the way people try to find their balance, clinical psychologist Gabriela Marc explained to “Adevărul”.
Fly and flop holidays, where tourists flew to a destination just for a few days of relaxation in the sun, are gradually being replaced by what specialists have called skillidays – holidays where the main experience is learning a new skill.
A specialized study among more than 27,000 people from 28 European countries shows that 48% of Europeans want to learn something new during their vacation, and more than a third (37%) have already booked such a vacation this year.
The phenomenon is even more pronounced among young people. Almost six in ten Europeans aged 18 to 24 (57%) and over half of those aged 25 to 34 (52%) say they have chosen a holiday to learn a new skill.
Romanians follow the same trend. According to the study, 44% of Romanian respondents intend to spend this year on vacation learning a craft, a sport or a practical skill.
Moreover, 51% of Europeans say that a holiday becomes more valuable when they go home with something learned, and 48% believe that a new skill is worth more than a souvenir bought from the visited destination.
The shift also reflects a broader shift in consumer behavior. People are investing more and more in experiences and less in material objects. For the tourism industry, this represents an important opportunity, especially for local businesses.
Natalia Lechmanova, chief economist for Europe at the Mastercard Economics Institute, points out that tourists are looking for experiences that stay with them long after the holiday is over.
“They want to create memories, but increasingly, they also want to go home with things they’ve actually learned to do. From winemaking and woodworking to ceramics, painting or permaculture, people are willing to pay for experiences offered by local businesses that show them an authentic part of the local culture and give them a lesson they keep after they’ve returned home“, she explains.
“People are looking for experiences that give them meaning”
Beyond the numbers, the change reflects a profound psychological transformation. According to the main clinical psychologist Gabriela Marc, associate university lecturer at the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, people are no longer just looking for relaxation, but experiences that give them meaning.
“Vacation is no longer just a break, it is simultaneously an attempt to reconnect”, said Gabriela Marc for “Adevărul”.
According to her, for a long time leave was perceived as a simple interruption of professional activity. “We thought that if we stopped long enough, we would automatically come back better. But today, more and more people seem to be looking for something else. They don’t just want to come back rested, they want to come back changed, connected to themselves, to lifeshe said.
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The psychologist says that this need is natural and has well-known explanations in specialized literature.
“Man does not only need physical recovery, he also needs growth, meaning and reconnection with his own resources. When we learn something new, mechanisms associated with motivation, curiosity, sense of competence and self-confidence are activated. We no longer just feel that we have consumed an experience, we feel that it has left something in us”explained Gabriela Marc for “Adevărul”.
In his opinion, this is precisely the reason why more and more people choose courses in ceramics, photography, dance, gastronomy or foreign languages instead of vacations where the only activity is relaxation.
Moreover, the study carried out by Mastercard shows that the first position in the ranking of skills that Europeans want to learn on vacation is occupied by foreign languages. Almost a third of respondents (30%) say they would like to learn enough expressions to be able to hold a conversation with locals.
In the next places are cooking classes (28%), experiences through which tourists discover how wine, cheese or beer are produced (28%), wellness activities such as yoga and meditation (25%), but also traditional crafts, photography or painting.
However, Romanians are distinguished by their special interest in gastronomy. Four out of ten respondents (41%) say they would take cooking classes while on holiday, one of the highest percentages in Europe.
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Beyond tourist preferences, Gabriela Marc draws attention to a less visible dimension: the psychological pressure behind the way people live and display their holidays. “We no longer just go to see the world, we travel so the world can see where we’ve been”she said.
This shift transforms vacation into a space of social validation, where experiences are chosen not just for their personal value, but also for the impact they have externally. “Man does not become authentic when he plays a role, even if that role looks good in photographs”she added.
In this context, vacation can become a continuation of the same pressures from professional and social life: performance, image, comparison.
The effect is a fatigue that does not completely disappear on vacation, but accumulates over time, because the “break” experience is no longer a genuine one.
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Psychologist Gabriela Marc points out that an important part of this change has to do with how people understand their own emotional needs.
This explains the fact that many people are no longer just looking for pleasure, but for meaning. “In psychology, the distinction between pleasure and meaning is essential. Pleasure is intense but fleeting. Meaning builds over time and changes how we relate to ourselves“, said Gabriela Marc, explaining why seemingly simple activities such as cooking, modeling or learning a foreign language have become so popular on holidays: “Not just relaxation, but a sense of progress and competence. When you live for months or years in a life that no longer expresses you, you don’t go on vacation just tired. You leave exhausted,”
said Marc to “The Truth”.
In such situations, people tend to look for intense experiences that provide a quick feeling of “life lived”, but this is not equivalent to real rest.
The difference between stimulation and fulfillment thus becomes central to understanding how contemporary tourism is changing. “The soul doesn’t rest from validation. It rests from authenticity.”she said.
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