Ikigai – pronounced ‘ee-key-guy’ – is the Japanese term for finding your purpose; your raison d’etre, to borrow from the French. As a word lover, I’m a sucker for those on-point foreign expressions for which we have no English equivalent. Japanese is awash with untranslatables – komorebi being the sunshine that filters cinematically through leaves, and kuidaore denoting that you’ve eaten your way into bankruptcy. The travel industry can never resist a new buzzword, but knowing that iki means ‘life’ and gai translates as ‘value’ gives ikigai more gravitas than trend-words such as ‘mancation’ and ‘flashpacking’.
The Japanese believe that the journey to discovering your life’s purpose requires deep reflection and, of course, there are plenty of books that espouse their tenets relating to the power of ikigai. When it comes to fulfilling forays, you could skip the self-help titles, since a shortcut to making your life more meaningful is seeking out the travel providers who have found their own reason for being. Hotels demonstrate ikigai by combining a passion for what they love and care about with a business formula that aims to benefit the world. Take a bow, Fogo Island Inn. The forward-thinking business model of this remote Canadian hotel has revived the once fishing- reliant economy of this tiny isle off the coast of Newfoundland in the North Atlantic – and made it an unlikely tourist destination. Its founder, social entrepreneur Zita Cobb, made it her mission to push purpose higher on the agenda, and provided a hefty philanthropic contribution via Shorefast, a charity she set up with her siblings – all eighth-generation Fogo Islanders. Altruism is all very charming, but I’m not going to lie, it was the Instagram-friendly aesthetics that made Fogo a must-visit for me. Waking up in one of its 29 suites furnished in handcrafted Scandi-style furniture, watching icebergs float along the ocean horizon, with a beautiful tray of delicious home-baked pastries on the handmade quilt, is what I think of when I remember my time there. Although it is heartening to know my custom supported out-of-work seventh-generation fishermen.
A decade ago, it would have been unthinkable that Newfoundland would ever become a pin-up for design lovers and a exemplar of ethical entrepreneurialism; after all, it was cut off from electricity until recently. But Todd Saunders’ attention-grabbing modernist architecture and the award-winning hyperlocal restaurant are reason enough to take two flights and a ferry to reach this isolated hamlet. Cobb’s approach to rebuilding an economy affected by the drastic drop in cod stocks have earned Fogo Island Inn many magazine covers and plenty of discerning travellers – and the entrepreneur herself a national honour, the Order of Canada.
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G Adventures is a travel firm that has always had purpose front of mind. When Bruce Poon Tip began hosting small-group trips in 1990, the idea was to bridge a gap between backpacking and bigger-deal group expeditions. The Trinidad-born Torontonian’s intimate, culturally immersive tours based on meaningful sensitive connections with locals created a new niche pegged on purpose. “We have always measured our success through local benefit and positive impact,” says Poon Tip, also author of the book Looptail: How One Company Changed The World By Reinventing Business. G Adventures has founded more than 50 social enterprises, bringing underserved communities – from Peru to Vietnam – into the sustainable tourism chain, improving education as well as creating jobs. Many of the projects sustain whole neighbourhoods through the ripple effect. Parwa Community Restaurant in Peru’s Sacred Valley was launched in 2014. Its kitchen and training programmes now provide a rare, empowering opportunity for the female staff, who receive monthly salaries, health insurance and pension funds. The profits from around 15,000 covers, sustained by a constant stream of culturally curious travellers with an appetite for authentic experiences, support a village of 70 families. And you’d be hard pushed to find a more delicious version of la causa, the classic Peruvian dish of yellow potato layered with avocado, fish and chilli.
Hilton might not be the first hotel option that springs to mind if you’re thinking of turning eco- warrior, but the mega-chain has long since vocalised its sense of purpose in driving change. Putting its procurement where its mouth is, Hilton plans to remove plastic straws from its hotels – and water bottles from meeting and event spaces across Europe, Middle East and Africa – by the end of 2018. Greenwashing it most certainly isn’t when we’re all invited to monitor the environmental impact of its 5,300-plus hotels around the world through LightStay, a dedicated corporate-responsibility, performance-measurement platform. Through the management of energy, carbon, water and waste, this transparency has also helped Hilton save more than a billion dollars since 2009.
It can be argued that many luxury hotels look the same these days, which is why I spend so much time seeking out stays with soul. It’s a significant differentiator. From a neuroscience point of view, it’s also a winner. Being a considerate traveller is a sure-fire mood-booster. You don’t need to be a medical professor to appreciate the effect that doing good has on the brain, triggering the release of the neurotransmitters dopamine, serotonin and oxytocin and making us feel happy and rewarded. When it comes to finding our own ikigai, what more enjoyable path to get there than taking an inspiring holiday where our time out helps pay it forward?
Juliet Kinsman has worked for more than two decades as a travel journalist and written features for publications including The Observer, The Evening Standard, Condé Nast Traveller and The Telegraph. She is a Louis Vuitton City Guides author and the founding editor of Mr & Mrs Smith. Last year, she launched Bouteco.co, a site that caters for the luxury eco-traveller
