ETF/ABS
Magellan Travel Index
A new index that tracks the achievements of global travelers.
A PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN
ABOUT MAGELLAN TRAVEL INDEX
The Atlântico Business School (ABS), a university in Porto, Portugal, built a new index that tracks the achievements of global travelers, and has partnered with the Extraordinary Travel Festival (ETF) to launch this index. Their collaboration aims to make the ETF/ABS Magellan Travel Index (MTI) a leading benchmark for travelers worldwide.
The index is named after the famous Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan (Fernão de Magalhães in Portuguese), who led the first circumnavigation of the globe from 1519 to 1522, at the service of the kings of Spain. The name was chosen to:
- Honor the legacy of early explorers, like Magellan and other Portuguese and Spanish navigators, who set out into uncharted territories and, in doing so, kickstarted the age of globalization.
- Recognize modern-day explorers, whose adventurous spirit often takes them to remote and challenging regions, echoing the bravery of explorers from centuries past.
The ETF/ABS Magellan Travel Index is based on two main factors, each given equal weight: Quality of Travel (QL) and Quantity of Travel (QT).
Quantity of Travel (QT) is determined by how many regions a traveler has explored, based in the number of countries in the UN and the number of countries/territories in the world according to ISO and the regions of the three most important travel clubs:
- United Nations Member States (UN)
- International Organization for Stardardization (ISO)
- TCC - Travelers' Century Club (TCC)
- NomadMania
- Most Traveled People (MTP)
Quality of Travel (QL) is evaluated using four key criterions:
- UNESCO Sites: number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites (WHS) visited.
- Cultural Heritage: number of UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity experienced.
- SLOW: a Nomadmania index showing how long the user stayed in each country
- Tentative List: number of sites on UNESCO’s Tentative List visited.
- Capitals: number of capitals of countries and territories visited.
- Borders: number of land or sea borders crossed.
The ETF/ABS Magellan Travel Index will be updated and published annually on the ETF website and other partner platforms.
MAIN OBJECTIVES
A guideline for assessing the quality of travel
The index aims to serve as a guideline for assessing the quality of travel for those who wish to explore the largest number of regions on the planet. It incorporates criterion that measure the number of regions visited (in the QT subcomponent of the MTI) and criterion that evaluate the quality of those visits (in the QL subcomponent of the MTI).
The index value reflects the traveler’s level: the higher the value, the more well-traveled they can consider themselves. Thus, using the index, a traveler can plan their trips considering how each visit affects their index score.
As a secondary objective, the index also allows the creation of a ranking among travelers, which is always a motivating and challenging factor for most extreme travelers. Given that travel is more prevalent today than ever, in the future, once its limitations are overcome, this ranking may be considered the definitive ranking of the greatest travelers of all time.
SPECIFICITIES OF MAGELLAN TRAVEL INDEX
In a generic way, it can be said that MTI has 4 very specific characteristics:
Quantity and Quality
It considers both the quantity of regions visited and the quality of the visits made, giving equal weight to each of the components.
Multiplicity
To measure the number of regions visited, it includes criterion from the 3 most important travel clubs (MTP, NomadMania and TCC).
Independence
Attaches the same importance to those clubs, giving equal weight to each one.
Objectivity
To assess the quality of travel, it uses objective criterion or those defined by prestigious supranational entities in the field.
A FINAL REFLECTION
To conclude, we would like to make our own the words of the mythical Spanish traveler Jorge Sanchez, on the website where he presents his own ranking;
“This ranking, as well as those in travel clubs such as TCC, MTP, or NomadMania, should not be taken too seriously. Travel is just an instrument to learn; dromomania is a pathology, it is insane; there are more important things to do in life than traveling, but some people are so poor than in their life they only have travels. Nevertheless, I still think that the best traveler is the one who, thanks to his conscious travels, has acquired more knowledge of humanities that has helped him to elevate his being, to develop from featherless biped to complete man”.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ETF and ABS extend their thanks to the NomadMania website (especially Harry Mitsidis and Orest Zub), MTP website (especially Charles Veley and Luis Amaral) and ABS team (especially Pedro Bruno, Pedro Antunes and Débora Luz) for all the support on the creation of the “ETF/ABS Magellan Travel Index”.