Cultural tourism stems from several key factors. Its material base reflects the trend toward less leisure time and shorter vacations near one’s residence. At a different level, it reflects the desire by growing numbers of tourists to encounter and observe a different culture or way of life, including its past. Cultural tourism provides sightseers a much-needed sense of depth in a highly transient society. For example, the National Park Service reports that visitors to its historical and archaeological sites now outnumber by far those going to national parks. Many analysts of tourism believe that cultural tourism represents the rejection of contemporary mass culture, a search for better or different ways of life. For many people, this kind of travel has become a form of therapy and self-fulfillment. Like medieval pilgrims, contemporary tourists seek out extraordinary places and experiences that they hope will change their lives.