旅游的意义有三个：社交的激励，智力的开发，生理的需求。对每个人的每次旅游来说，这三个意义有可能交织在一起，也有可能隔离呈现。随着年龄，环境，经历的改变，三种意义的重心也会改变。
社交的激励
不妨先想想这个只须对自己的诚实负责的问题：如果你的旅游在世界上没有任何人关注，没有人会在意你到什么地方去，没有人会看你的旅游照片，没有人会听你的描述和感想抒发，你还会去旅游吗？如果你真诚的回答是“会”，
旅游对你来说应该是一种个人行为，请你继续读下面的两节。
对统计学意义的大多数人来说，旅游更多地是一种社会行为。就是说，自己的旅游活动受别人的影响，也想用它去影响别人。影响别人的方式无非是彰显和分享。
彰显且不说它，谈谈分享。人有时会有一种分享的冲动，独自看了一部好电影，听了一段好音乐，读了一篇好文章，在自己享受之余，很想和他人分享，甚至会感觉到这种分享也是一种享受。毫无疑问，这种心态，
对人这种群居生物具有一种有正面意义，但你却不必把它和“高尚的情操”联系起来。认真探讨其真实的动机时，你会发现，这和“大爱”毫无关系，反而是一种“自爱”的表现，
这样的行为的深层意义是有意地或潜意识地表现自己的重要性或与众不同。这毫不奇怪，因为不管在哪一个层次上，人的精神需求之首就是彰显自己的重要性和与众不同。
人可以使自己与众不同的方式很多，旅游是一种能最轻易提升自己社会形象的活动，它不需要艰苦的训练，细致的劳作，沉重的思考，只须有点资金，说走就走，然后给自己带回一种形象上焕然一新的感觉。那就是为什么人们聚在一起，
总离不开旅游的话题，在这样的话题中受到激励，也激励他人。
其实我们这些普通人的自主思想是很少的，绝大多数人的大多数想法是来自于外界的影响和社会的舆论，人对旅游的感觉也是如此。“日出阿里山，日落好望角”，这一类的旅游概念，虽然没有什么实际价值，却为人建立了一种舆论的企望，
一种虚荣的指标，而不是事实的标记。从洛杉矶行几万里到好望角去看日落的大有人在。从感觉和地理位置上，这两处看到的日落并无不同，但因为社会的舆论，人会认为他的人生的价值因此提高了，他的生活更有意义了。
如果你认为自己不是追求结果而是在“享受过程”，不妨也请读下面两节。
智力的开发
旅游对青少年所产生的新奇感和对世界的真实感是实实在在的，无可替代的，它会开阔人的眼界，激发人的创造力和事业心，它可以塑造一个人的理想和人格。对这批人而言，对旅游的一切赞美，都不过分。然而旅游的这种功能，
有相当大的生理和心理年龄限制。比较一下你二，三十岁，和五，六十岁对旅游的感觉，很容易回答这个问题。
当你成了一个被“自己的知识”填满的成年人或老年人后，就不必说你旅游是为了追求知识了。那种在“一系列忙乱的动作”当中，像挖耳屎一般掏出点所游地的历史背景，风土人情，地理知识，怎能与随便读一本有关的书来增长知识相比？
如果你是对看十页书都惧怕的“碎片族”，更不必用“通过旅游来增加知识的储存”来欺骗自己了。
“知识的储存”是用来干什么的？主要是它使用价值。二，三十岁被旅游的所见激励时，你想的是，“我以后要把它写进书去或增加我谈吐的色彩”，“我要用它激励儿孙”，“我要创造自己的生活与这景色一般美好”. . .
当你已经进入了你的“以后”，你所能做的都到了尽头的时候，知识的意义也就改变了，这是不争的事实。如果你说是用见到的真实东西来验证你所具有的知识，或弥补以前的某些遗憾，这倒还是真话。
生理的需求
有时候人真正地感觉到需要从长期所处的环境里出去走一走，动一动，看一看，这种冲动是不受任何社会因素影响的，也是和年龄无关的。这种自在和放松的需求是人的排名第三的生理需求，在生存需求和性需求之后。当这种欲望涌来时，
你只希望走出禁锢你的小世界，到太阳下面去晒一晒，到人群中去挤一挤，到广阔处去呆一呆，或者有条件时到什么名城佳地去游一番，你都会得到满足，这和其形式的高大上与否没有关系，方便，兴至就行。这样处理生理需求的方式大概用散心，放松，换气来形容比较恰当。
满足了这种欲望后，你又会不声不响地回到禁锢你的地方去过你的日子。作为一个不很高大上的比喻，人排除大便的快感是无与伦比的，获得这种快感后你会去张扬或分享吗？
然而人们往往忽视旅游的这种生理需求的朴实的性质，对它过分地包装，或小题大做，感觉自己有了李白或徐霞客的情怀，赋予它一些并不存在的意义和社会性，对自己进行启发，对他人进行开导。
满足生理需求的“低挡”的旅游是属于自己的。
在生理需求和智力开发以外的“高档”的旅游是属于社会的。其实，和付出相比，属于社会的旅游为自己带来的东西并没有想象的那么多。如果把你旅游的整个过程以一小时的间隔拍照，
最后能向人们展示的“拿得出去的”旅游照片不会有百分之一吧？为了那几张照片，真是够忙，够辛苦的。
（2023年2月）
English Version ---------------------------
A brief discussion on tourism
Travel has three main purposes: social incentives, intellectual development, and physiological fulfillment. For each individual, these three meanings can be intertwined or separate. As age, circumstances, and experiences change, the emphasis on these three meanings shifts.
Social Incentives
Just think about this question of being responsible only for your own honesty: If no one in the world paid attention to your travels, no one cared where you went, no one looked at your travel photos, and no one listened to your descriptions and reflections, would you still travel? If your answer is a sincere "yes," then travel should be a personal activity for you. Please continue reading the next two sections.
For a statistically significant majority of people, travel is more of a social activity. That is, their travel activities are influenced by others, and they also want to use their travel activities to influence others. The way to influence others is nothing more than sharing and showing off.
Let's not talk about showing off, let's talk about sharing. People sometimes have an urge to share. When they watch a good movie, listen to a piece of music, or read a good article by themselves,
Let's not talk about showing off, let's talk about sharing. People sometimes feel the urge to share. After watching a great movie, listening to a good piece of music, or reading a good article alone, beyond enjoying it, they're eager to share it with others, even feeling that sharing itself is a form of enjoyment. This mentality undoubtedly has positive implications for social beings like humans, but it doesn't necessarily equate it with "noble sentiments." A careful examination of the true motivations reveals that it has nothing to do with "great love" but rather a manifestation of "self-love." The deeper meaning of such behavior is a conscious or subconscious desire to demonstrate one's importance and uniqueness. This is unsurprising, as, at every level, the primary spiritual need of human beings is to demonstrate their importance and uniqueness.
There are many ways for people to distinguish themselves, and travel is one of the easiest ways to enhance one's social image. It doesn't require strenuous training, meticulous work, or heavy thinking; all you need is a little money, a spontaneous trip, and the chance to return feeling completely refreshed. That's why when people gather together, the topic of travel is always around; they're inspired by such conversations and inspire others.
In reality, ordinary people like most of us rarely have independent thoughts. Most of our thoughts are influenced by external factors and social opinion, and the same is true of our perceptions of travel. Tourism concepts like "Sunrise at Alishan, sunset at the Cape of Good Hope," while lacking practical value, foster public aspirations, a vanity indicator rather than a marker of reality. Many people travel thousands of miles from Los Angeles to watch the sunset at the Cape of Good Hope. While the feelings and geographical locations are similar, the sunsets seen at the two locations are perceived as elevated and more meaningful because of social opinion. If you believe you're not pursuing results but rather "enjoying the process," you might also consider reading the following two sections.
Development of intelligence
The sense of novelty and realism that travel brings to young people is tangible and irreplaceable. It broadens their horizons, stimulates creativity and ambition, and can shape their ideals and personalities. For this group of people, all praise for travel is appropriate. However, this function of travel has significant physical and psychological age limits. Comparing your experiences with travel in your twenties and thirties with those in your fifties and sixties will easily answer this question.
When you become an adult or even an elderly person, saturated with "your own knowledge," there's no need to claim that you travel for the sake of knowledge. How can the hectic process of picking out bits of history, local customs, and geography from a destination, like digging earwax, compare to the enrichment of knowledge gained through casual reading of a relevant book? If you're a "fragmenter" who dreads even ten pages of a book, there's no need to deceive yourself by claiming that "travel will increase my knowledge base."
What's the purpose of "storing knowledge"? Primarily, its practical value. When you're in your twenties or thirties and inspired by what you see while traveling, you think, "I'll write this down in a book or enrich my conversation," "I'll use it to inspire my children and grandchildren," "I'll create a life as beautiful as this scenery ." Once you've entered your "future," when all you can do has come to an end, the meaning of knowledge changes. This is an indisputable fact. If you say you use the real things you see to validate your knowledge or to make up for past regrets, that's certainly true.
Physiological needs
Sometimes, people truly feel the need to escape their long-standing surroundings, to walk around , move around , and explore . This urge is unaffected by any social factors and has nothing to do with age . This need for freedom and relaxation is the third most important physiological need , after survival and sexual needs . When this desire arises, you simply want to escape your confined little world, to bask in the sun, squeeze in with the crowds, spend some time in a wide-open space, or, if conditions permit, to visit a famous city or scenic spot. You'll be satisfied. It doesn't matter whether the form is grand or not; it just needs to be convenient and in your mood. This way of dealing with physiological needs can probably be best described as relaxing, unwinding, and getting some fresh air. Having satisfied this desire, you quietly return to your confined place to go about your life. To use a less elegant metaphor, the pleasure of defecation is unparalleled. After experiencing this pleasure, do you want to show off or share it?
However, people often ignore the simple nature of this physiological need for travel , over-package it , or make a fuss about it , feeling that they have the sentiments of Li Bai or Xu Xiake , giving it some non-existent meaning and sociality, inspiring themselves and enlightening others.
"Low-end" travel that satisfies ones physiological needs belongs to you. "High-end" travel, beyond physical needs and intellectual development, belongs to society.
In reality, compared to the pay off, the rewards of social travel aren't as great as one might imagine. If you took photos of your entire trip at hour-long intervals, there won't be even one percent of travel photos that are "worthy of being shown off". For those few photos, it's truly hectic and exhausting.
(March 2023)