Dr. Birgit Trauer is board member of Institute of Tourism

I believe in the therapeutic and transformative power of travel into our inner and outer worlds  in the name of love, healthy relationships,  and inner and outer peace.

My professional background

I draw on more than 30 years of extensive experience in leisure, travel, and tourism with insights from the diversity of roles in industry, academia, and consultancy.

I hold a PhD in Tourism Management from The University of Queensland, Australia, which I obtained in 2008. In my thesis, I explored the nature of adventure tourism experiences, focusing on the kinds, levels, and expressions of involvement – behavioural, cognitive, and particularly affective involvement – motivation, and risk perception to conceptualise Special Interest Tourism.

My thesis offers new frameworks and insights for the design, management and marketing of travel and tourism experiences, including those under the banner of adventure tourism, cultural tourism, sport tourism, food and wine tourism, and wellness tourism.

I have published in top international academic journals and academic textbooks, including a chapter on Special Interest Tourism in The SAGE International Encyclopaedia of Travel and Tourism (2017). At the end of 2020 I published my book ‘The Way of the Peaceful Traveller – Dare to Care and Connect’ (see below for details).

My professional engagements included work at international universities and educational institutions in Canada, England, Austria, Germany, New Zealand, Australia, and the United Arab Emirates. Before my involvement in academia and consultancy, I worked in the international airline industry, in retail and wholesale travel agencies, in tourism resorts, as a tour guide, and as a trainer and coach in the health and fitness industry.

As a social psychologist grounded in the interdisciplinary fields of leisure and tourism, communication, and relationship science I now operate independently as an educator, researcher, and consultant facilitating personal and professional growth. Emotional intelligence and empathetic communication principles and frameworks are at the core of all my work to foster healthy connections, rewarding collaborations, and strong personal and business relationships.

I am a Board Member of the Institute of Tourism – Voices of Insight and Change (https://institutetourism.com/team/), a Founding Member and awarded Tourism Hero at the World Tourism Network (WTN), a Charter Member of the International Institute of Peace through Tourism (IIPT), and a member of ICTP.

My Book The Way of The Peaceful Traveller – Dare to Care and Connect

Please take a look inside the book, available globally on Amazon in Kindle and Paperback version, and hopefully, you will be inspired to explore further.

This book of mine is an invitation for everyone who believes that this beautiful world should do better and that we all can contribute to this with caring minds and thoughtful hearts.

The Way of the Peaceful Traveller, the book and its underpinning philosophy invites us to pause and consider what is important to us as individuals, for society, and for the environment on which we all depend.

As life travellers, we are all visitors here on Mother Earth. We are all co-creators, leaders and change agents in all our relationships – in our private and public spheres, at micro and macro levels.

The Way of the Peaceful Traveller is an interactive book that empowers us to dare to care and connect with who we are and who we want to be as travellers through life. It takes us on a journey of inner and outer reflection with valuable insights and tools to develop skills that contribute to individual and relational growth.

Drawing on travel as a vehicle for transformative learning, The Way of the Peaceful Traveller offers opportunities to view our ways of being in this world from different perspectives. It provides thought-provoking questions and analytical avenues to get in touch with our emotions and feelings, establish a greater appreciation of our needs and values, and examine our belief systems and unquestioned behaviour patterns.

The Way of the Peaceful Traveller brings to the fore that we live in an interconnected world where new mindsets are called for; where value systems and actions that demonstrate empathy and mutual care are urgently needed in our aspirations for healthy relationships and inner and outer peace –during our travels as much as in our daily lives at home.