AGENTS: There’s a deeper and more significant aspect of your work that usually goes unnoticed and ignored, and that’s your role in helping people live happier and healthier lives.
That’s right folks, your service in helping people book and holidays is an effective form of therapy that has scientifically proven positive effects on the populace.
Here are five ways travel is an effective form of therapy.
1. TRAVEL CAN DEFEND AGAINST DEPRESSION
According to this study, going on a holiday has been shown to significantly reduce the liklihood of developing depression, and in fact can help promote greater brain health. Travelling has also been found to make us happier than actually getting married!
Interestingly, and great news for travel agents, travelling’s therapeutic effects don’t just start once the client has set foot on a plane or landed in a new country, but actually start as soon as the person has booked their holiday with you. Pretty cool huh?!
2. TRAVEL BRINGS PEOPLE CLOSER TOGETHER
Sharing new travel experiences together, and solving problems on the fly strengthens all types of relationships and generally brings people closer together – so well done you, oh travel agent!
Couples that travel together were found to report higher levels of intimacy than those that stayed home, and had healthier and happier relationships overall.
3. TRAVEL CAN SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCE STRESS BY 89 PERCENT
Travelling has been found to be one of the most immediate ways of relieving stress. This study found that stress levels dropped by as much as 89 percent just a day or two into a holiday – that’s a speedier effect than even the most effective anti-depressants!
Freed up from the commitments and complexities of everyday life, travellers can ditch the old in search of the new and actually feel alive again instead of feeling imprisoned by the mundane. And you’re the ones who help free them.
4. TRAVEL MAKES PEOPLE MORE OPEN MINDED
Exploring new cultures and meeting new people that hail from all walks of life has been proven to make travellers way more open minded and creative according to this study. This is due to the brain’s neuroplasticity and the ability of travel to shape and mould our brains in new ways as we experience new things.
Mark Twain spoke words of wisdom indeed when he said that travelling is fatal to prejudice. Perhaps you can put that down on your business card?!
5. TRAVEL MAKES YOU MORE STABLE (EMOTIONALLY)
The constant change that comes with travelling can make people better able to cope with anxiety back at home, according to these studies. That’s because travellers will get used to things not going their way on their travels, and then won’t be so flustered when the same happens back home.
This ability to make people more emotionally stable is more pronounced over long-term travel, so perhaps you should advise your clients to turn that two-week holiday into a three month journey!
