First Gathering of the World's Mega-Travelers Concludes with Plans for a Sequel in 2024
CHICAGO, Jan. 19, 2023 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Award-winning travel photographer, podcaster, blogger and filmmaker Ric Gazarian announces the successful conclusion of the Extraordinary Travel Festival (ETF) and the search for a 2024 location. The Festival is an event he created to bring together the world's most accomplished, adventurous, 'mega' travelers during three days of story sharing and learning. Hosted in Yerevan, Armenia from October 14-16, speakers and attendees of the 2022 festival shared insights on what it takes to visit all 195 of the world's sovereign countries – a feat accomplished by fewer than 250 known people living today.
More than 25 speakers, in keynotes, breakout sessions, and panels, engaged, informed, and entertained an audience of 130 mega-travelers. "It was like 100 modern-day Marco Polos gathered in a single location," said Gazarian, whose website @GlobalGaz, features stories and images from his colorful travels to more than 150 countries. "The energy, enthusiasm and vast knowledge exchanged about country-collecting and travel was like nothing I've seen before."
Invited mega-travelers include Paul Barbato of GeographyNow! (with 3m+ plus subscribers), Gustav Rosted (with 500k+ subscribers), and Scott Eddy (with 1m+ followers) highlighted the excitement of the festival and the beauty of the host destination with non-stop content creation across their channels.
The largest mega-travel clubs were represented at the event, including Most Traveled People (30,000 members), NomadMania (20,000 members), and Travel Massive (90,000 members). Travel partners such as Soviet Tours, ITC Sudan, and HIKEArmenia who specialize in creating travel experiences for these audacious travelers appeared at the ETF.
While 90% of guests or presenters originated from North America and Europe, the Extraordinary Travel Festival attracted attendees from six different continents. Ages ranged from 20 to 80 years old with a 60/40 split between men and women. In addition to the robust schedule of speakers, attendees were entertained with lively parties and a gala dinner. Some attendees opted for multi-day trips across the region while others were hosted on VIP day trips.
"Our intention with creating this event was to strengthen this incredible community of mega-travelers by bringing us together in one place, while sharing strategies for advising and inspiring the travel fans who follow us. Many of us explore the world as solo travelers, but we are far from alone in wanting to spread the word about the eye-opening power of going further in our travels, farther, and more often," added Gazarian. An amazing 100% of attendees surveyed plan to attend the second event.
Gazarian and his team are actively exploring options for the host city in which the next Extraordinary Travel Festival will take place, sometime in 2024.
"This travel festival offers the opportunity to showcase and promote your destination to the world's most accomplished and expert travelers from around the globe. If interested in hosting this event of the world's most traveled people, please reach out to learn more."
For questions, please contact Ric Gazarian, [email protected] or +1 617 901 9248 (Whatsapp)
Media Contact
Ric Gazarian, Extraordinary Travel Festival LLC, 1 6179019248, [email protected]
SOURCE Extraordinary Travel Festival LLC
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