Why are more travellers tracking how many countries they have visited, and proudly sharing the number online? A recent master’s thesis by Emma Felin shows that this trend is far more than a niche hobby. It offers a window into how travel, identity, and social media intertwine in today’s tourism culture.

In tourism today, people don’t just travel – they show they travel. Over the last decade, a growing number of travellers have begun engaging in a phenomenon called country counting. This entails keeping track of how many countries they have visited, sometimes even listing the exact number in their social media bios. Platforms like NomadMania, which rank travellers by country counts, have brought global visibility to the trend.

To understand what country-counting reveals about modern travel culture, in my thesis, I investigated how travellers use these numbers to shape and view who they are. It explores how counting countries becomes part of identity, how sharing those numbers helps travellers gain recognition from others, and how the practice can grow into a visible marker of status within today’s tourism landscape. These questions help explain why the phenomenon resonates so strongly, and what it tells us about the ways people present themselves through travel in a highly connected world.

Beyond numbers: why counting matters

Counting countries may begin as a simple record of places visited, but for many it becomes deeply personal. A new destination is not just a dot on the map, it can symbolise courage, adaptability, or determination. For some participants, it represents proof of discipline and achievement. For others, it is a way to make sense of their experiences and growth.

Importantly, the record is rarely kept private. Country counts are shared in conversations and digital spaces, especially on social media, where they function as achievements on display. A country list or a colour-coded map becomes part of one’s public image. Through this act, travel transforms from a private experience into a social statement, one that signals who we are and what we value.

A cycle of identity-building

The interviews I conducted for my thesis revealed that country-counting is not a single act but part of a repeating cycle through which travellers shape, express, and reinforce their sense of self. Rather than forming all at once, identity is built in stages that loop back into each other, a process that continues with every new journey.

It begins with how travellers see themselves. Many interviewees described themselves as adventurous, curious, or determined. Travel becomes a stage on which to express these qualities, and the number of countries visited offers a simple, concrete way to make these characteristics visible.

As travellers move through the world, emotions and experiences strengthen their self-image. Confidence gained from navigating new environments, pride in reaching a challenging destination, or gratitude for meaningful encounters all reinforce who they believe themselves to be.

Sharing these stories, whether through conversations, photos, or social media posts, becomes the next step in the cycle. Here, travel turns into a performed identity. By choosing what to show and how to frame it, travellers present a version of themselves to others. This stage is both expressive and strategic: it is about reliving the experience (emotions), but also about telling others something about oneself. As one interviewee explained, sharing travel content is at once a personal reflection and a performance for an audience.

[…] identity-building does not stop after a journey. Rather, it actively influences where travellers go next, what they prioritise, and what they hope to express.

Feedback from others; likes, comments, admiration, or simply the sense of being seen, forms an important part of the loop. Recognition can strengthen the identity being performed, making travellers feel more confident, more worldly, or more like the person they want to be. At the same time, the expectation of recognition can create pressure to maintain a certain image or pace of travel.

Finally, this feedback often helps shape future travel goals. Several interviewees said that when planning their next trip, they looked for destinations that would feel new, different, or meaningful, and sometimes, ones that would look good or add value to their country count. In this way, identity-building does not stop after a journey. Rather, it actively influences where travellers go next, what they prioritise, and what they hope to express.

Travel as performance

To understand these dynamics, I analysed interviewees’ stories through sociologist Erving Goffman’s performance theory, which views everyday life as a series of roles and stages. This approach helped reveal how travel today is not only something we do, but something we show. On the front stage, travellers perform for an audience, showcasing curated stories, milestone counts, and deliberated photos. Behind the scenes, however, they may experience doubts, exhaustion, or even anxiety about keeping up appearances.

This does not make the performance false. Rather, it illustrates that travel today is both lived and staged: we genuinely feel joy, pride, and wonder, but we also shape those emotions into public narratives that signal value, identity, and status.

The role of social media is not just to document this behaviour; it actively shapes and amplifies the practice. In combining travel with the logic of collecting, platforms turn experiences into a form of symbolic capital, a way to communicate worldliness, adventurousness, and competence. In a culture that celebrates productivity and achievement, a carefully curated travel feed becomes a kind of social currency. Problems arise when performance overshadows experience. When the goal shifts from the genuine engagement with places and cultures to collecting proof of being there, the depth of travel can be lost.

Beyond checklist tourism

One of the most important insights from the study is that collection and connection are not mutually exclusive. It is entirely possible to visit many countries while still travelling mindfully and respectfully. The travel industry has an important role in promoting experiences that prioritise cultural depth over accumulation, whether through marketing that highlights cultural immersion or by designing opportunities that encourage presence rather than performance. At the same time, travellers themselves also have a role to play: to reflect critically on how and why they travel, and to stay aware of the social dynamics that influence their choices.

What this means for tourism

Country-counting is not just an individual habit; it reflects wider shifts in tourism culture. Numbers appeal because they offer order, recognition, and an easy way to communicate identity. But when destinations are experienced primarily as milestones, tourism risks becoming more about proving than experiencing.

How can destinations encourage deeper engagement, not just checklist visits? How can social media be used to highlight cultural depth instead of mere accumulation?

Numbers appeal because they offer order, recognition, and an easy way to communicate identity.

Some emerging approaches, such as digital detox offerings, slow travel initiatives, or community-led storytelling, try to counterbalance the pressures of performative travel. Ultimately, country-counting highlights a central tension in contemporary travel: the desire to explore and the desire to be seen exploring. Understanding this tension is crucial for developing tourism practices that support not only mobility, but also cultural respect, sustainability, and genuine connection.

Why all this matters?

At its heart, this research is about more than travel. It is about how we define ourselves in a digital age. Country-counting reflects a broader cultural shift toward experience-based status seeking and the quantification of personal achievements. It captures both the empowering and the stressful sides of modern self-presentation. Travel can still be a source of learning, growth, and genuine connection. But in an era of constant sharing and comparison, it can also become another arena for competition.

Country-counting reflects a broader cultural shift toward experience-based status seeking and the quantification of personal achievements.

Understanding these dynamics is not about judging travellers. It is about recognising the complex motivations that shape our behaviour and fostering greater awareness of how we travel, share, and construct our identities. Ultimately, whether one is indifferent to numbers or chasing that three-digit country count, the most meaningful travel experiences are rarely the ones we can count.

The most profound journeys have always been about transformation, not just transportation. They are remembered for the growth they inspire, the connections they foster, and the experiences that can not be captured in numbers, or on a screen.

EMMA FELIN

Header photo: Leah Newhouse/Pexels

Food systems and tourism are inherently interconnected, nearly a quarter of all tourism spending is on food. The challenges presented by today’s industrialised food systems call for new approaches. WWOOF (Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farming) is one such model. Working on organic farms provides travellers with meaningful experiences and fosters new relationships between humans and nature. This model challenges contemporary views of work, leisure, and expertise while promoting responsible tourism development.

Intertwined patterns of food systems and tourism amid global challenges

Food systems consist of the elements and patterns involved in the production, distribution, and consumption of food. Decisions made by hospitality businesses in the tourism industry significantly impact food systems. Currently, these businesses often favour the lowest-cost options, which drive further industrialisation. While industrialisation has increased productivity, it has had detrimental consequences for farmers’ livelihoods, the environment, and health.

A posthumanist perspective offers a way forward by recognising food systems as networks of interdependent relationships between humans, animals, plants, and other nonhuman entities. This lens provides a basis for exploring food systems beyond human-centred goals, emphasising ethical and environmental responsibilities within tourism.

Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farming (WWOOF) exemplifies alternative approaches to food systems in tourism. Founded in 1971, WWOOF connects organic farmers with travellers who exchange work for accommodation and food. This global movement includes around 100,000 travellers and 12,000 farms across 130 countries, operating on principles of cultural exchange and mutual learning rather than financial gain.  

Through hands-on participation, travellers directly engage with various beings involved in food production, from livestock to soil microorganisms, making visible the complex web of relations that sustain organic farming.

For my master’s thesis, I studied how this movement exemplifies the intersection of tourism and food production through a posthumanist lens. WWOOF provides a compelling context for examining multispecies relations that are often hidden in conventional food systems. Through hands-on participation, travellers directly engage with various beings involved in food production, from livestock to soil microorganisms, making visible the complex web of relations that sustain organic farming.

In my study, I explored narratives of the WWOOF community. I collected quotes from hosts, WWOOFers and organisation representatives from different national WWOOF websites and analysed them using theory-guided content analysis, focusing on the diverse economic choices, encounters and interactions with nonhumans, and discussions related to travel and mobility. In the following chapter I briefly outline the main points that emerged from the narratives I analysed.

Growth of different sort with openness and flexibility

WWOOF members value diverse social and learning experiences. WWOOFers seek ”live-like-a-local” experiences, while hosts often value the social aspects of these exchanges. WWOOF hosts serve as experts, disrupting conventional roles where rural people are seen as requiring urban expertise. Both parties learn from each other, creating reciprocal relationships where engagement in encounters is essential, as situations and needs are not always negotiable in advance, and hold unexpected elements.

In WWOOF, work is redefined as the boundaries between leisure and work blur. Working in the WWOOF context often doesn’t feel like working, as tasks like harvesting or caring for animals become opportunities for meaningful experiences. Various elements of tourist experiences such as recreation, novelty, learning, and sense of freedom can be found in WWOOF work, though individuals approach labor from different perspectives. The blurring of work and leisure also poses challenges to negotiations with oneself, others on the site and nonhuman nature. The latter plays a crucial role in shaping the nature of work and leisure in the context of agriculture.

Many narratives analysed highlight the restorative and empowering nature of WWOOF exchanges, providing opportunities for meaningful participation and moral support. WWOOF participants are committed to providing inclusive and safe spaces. Of course, this does not always happen in practice: experiences of injustice are notable on the pages of some WWOOF farms. Participants are therefore encouraged to share their experiences in reviews, improving transparency of practices. In the narratives, WWOOF sites are represented as places that strive to provide safe spaces for nonhuman species in both urban and rural environments, aiming to care for entire local ecosystems. Many WWOOFers describe their experiences with these biodiverse environments as healing, highlighting the power of nonhuman nature in shaping mental wellbeing and the reciprocal nature of care.

Through spending considerable time in proximity with nonhumans, WWOOFers can develop caring, emotional bonds with farm animals, landscapes, and nonhuman nature.

The narratives revealed that biodiversity can create relaxing, recreational, and fascinating atmospheres. However, these atmospheres can also challenge the sense of security and comfort of WWOOFers. These feelings of discomfort facilitate learning experiences where preconceptions and emotional reactions are open to scrutiny.

Some WWOOFers found their fear of certain species decreased through these experiences, which is noteworthy as fears of certain species and a general aversion to nature have increased. Through spending considerable time in proximity with nonhumans, WWOOFers can develop caring, emotional bonds with farm animals, landscapes, and nonhuman nature.

While WWOOF was originally founded on rural experiences, many now view it as cultural exchange and an alternative to mass tourism. The flexibility of the WWOOF system accommodates different lengths of stay and travel patterns, providing opportunities for slow-paced tourism. International travel was prominent in the data as well as in the structure of the WWOOF platform, influencing the way the WWOOF experience is perceived. However, to reduce overall travel emissions, it is crucial to approach nearby places with the same amount of wonder and respect. Local WWOOF sites provide an alternative to long-distance travel. As WWOOFing inherently includes different experiential elements, WWOOFers can have touristic experiences on nearby farms. Short-distance mobility can also build customer confidence in food production conditions.

Beyond physical travel, WWOOF involves the mobility of knowledge, skills, values, and perspectives. Skills associated with food systems are particularly prominent, reducing dependence on industrial food systems. In addition, communication skills are essential, as hosts and guests often speak different languages and come from different cultural backgrounds requiring them to navigate these differences collaboratively. WWOOF experiences can also increase knowledge of ecosystems and interdependence.

Towards response-able food futures in tourism

In typical tourism-related food systems, production processes remain hidden, distancing consumers from ethical and environmental realities. Sustainable food systems require commitment to everyday practices of local food production. Tourism must increasingly envision and create activities where tourism stakeholders work collaboratively to shape local food production, not just as consumers and intermediaries, but as active participants.

The WWOOF community encourages tourism to engage in activities where diverse human and nonhuman actors in the production chain encounter different complexities and ethical negotiations. Rather than focusing on financial gain, such frameworks make social and environmental costs more visible than in conventional global markets. This kind of approach enables individuals to become more response-able, that is, able to respond to challenges and ethical considerations posed by their relationships with others, human and nonhuman.

— tourism can evolve from a passive consumption to one that promotes active engagement with the urgencies of our food systems.

This approach could be scaled up across the tourism sector, integrating experiential opportunities that connect tourists and intermediaries with local food systems. In this way, tourism can evolve from a passive consumption to one that promotes active engagement with the urgencies of our food systems.

The affective dimension of WWOOFing enables travellers to develop care and responsibility for nonhuman nature through recreational atmospheres that foster emotional connections and embodied experiences. Tourism-related food systems could include more affective spaces that awaken curiosity and foster restoration, where individuals can step out of their comfort zones, challenge their preconceived notions and learn to respond to discomfort. A practical example of this concept is the handling of organic waste. While it may be uncomfortable at first, but hands-on experience of its transformation into compost that nourishes organic vegetables can foster a sense of care.

Narratives about restorative atmospheres on WWOOF sites encourage considering local food production sites and community gardens as places of experiencing, recreation, and learning. Tourism and regional developers could collaborate more closely with these stakeholders. The WWOOF model demonstrates that food systems in tourism can benefit from both local and global mobility of knowledge and skills.

The WWOOF model shows that food systems in tourism can be built on more than financial gain, embracing social, experiential, and empowering aspects while promoting a caring, curious, and sensitive orientation towards both human and nonhuman beings. While providing meaningful experiences, tourism can simultaneously strengthen local food systems, promote knowledge mobility, and create spaces where people develop more caring relationships with food systems.

SUVI RANTA

Header photo: Mira Yli-Saari