This study answers the call for the increased use of hermeneutic phenomenology in tourism studies. Specifically, this research seeks to uncover the meaning and key aspects of transformative travel through an in-depth study of the lived experience of 17 students who traveled to the niche tourism destination of Ikaria, Greece as part of a 10-day education abroad program. Pursuant to hermeneutic phenomenology, the researchers, who were also the course instructors, were active participants in the co-creation of meaning of the phenomenon (i.e., transformative travel). Mezirow's transformative learning process served as the theoretical framework for this research and guided the development of program activities and the written assignments that served as data for the interpretative analysis. The results are presented as the YEP Framework of Transformative Travel, which includes three overarching themes and nine sub-themes. This study provides a foundation for further investigation of how travel can be transformative for the traveler and has theoretical and pedagogical implications that can inform future research.

这项研究满足了在旅游学研究中越来越多地使用诠释学现象学的呼吁。具体来说，本研究旨在通过深入研究17名学生的生活经验来揭示变革性旅行的意义和关键方面，这些学生作为10天海外教育计划的一部分，前往希腊Ikaria的小众旅游目的地。根据解释现象学，研究者，也是课程的指导者，是现象意义的共创（即转化旅行）的积极参与者。Mezirow的变革性学习过程成为该研究的理论框架，并指导了计划活动和书面作业的发展，这些作业作为解释性分析的数据。结果以“ YEP转型旅行框架”的形式呈现，其中包括三个总体主题和九个子主题。这项研究为进一步研究旅行如何为旅行者带来变革提供了基础，并具有理论和教学意义，可以为将来的研究提供参考。