What Is Tourism

WHAT IS TOURISM?
When we think of tourism, we think primarily of people who are visiting a particular place for sightseeing,
visiting friends and relatives, taking a vacation, and having a good time. They may spend their leisure time
engaging in various sports, sunbathing, talking, singing, taking rides, touring, reading, or simply enjoying the
environment. If we consider the subject further, we may include in our definition of tourism people who are
participating in a convention, a business conference, or some other kind of business or professional activity, as
well as those who are taking a study tour under an expert guide or doing some kind of scientific research or
study.
These visitors use all forms of transportation, from hiking in a wilderness park to flying in a jet to an exciting
city. Transportation can include taking a chairlift up a Colorado mountainside or standing at the rail of a cruise
ship looking across the blue Caribbean.
Whether people travel by one of these means or by car, motorcoach, camper, train, taxi, motorbike, or bicycle,
they are taking a trip and thus are engaging in tourism. That is what this book is all about—why people travel
(and why some don’t) and the socioeconomic effects that their presence and expenditures have on a society.
Any attempt to define tourism and to describe its scope fully must consider the various groups that participate
in and are affected by this industry. Their perspectives are vital to the development of a comprehensive
definition. Four different perspectives of tourism can be identified:
1. The tourist. The tourist seeks various psychic and physical experiences and satisfactions.
The nature of these will largely determine the destinations chosen and the activities enjoyed.
2. The businesses providing tourist goods and services. Businesspeople see tourism as an opportunity to
make a profit by supplying the goods and services that the tourist market demands.
3. The government of the host community or area. Politicians view tourism as a wealth factor in the
economy of their jurisdictions. Their perspective is related to the incomes their citizens can earn from this
business. Politicians also consider the foreign exchange receipts from international tourism as well as the tax
receipts collected from tourist expenditures, either directly or indirectly. The government can play an
important role in tourism policy; development, promotion, and implementation (see Chapter 15).
4. The host community. Local people usually see tourism as a cultural and employment factor. Of importance
to this group, for example, is the effect of the interaction between large numbers of international visitors and
residents. This effect may be beneficial or harmful, or both.
Thus, tourism may be defined as the processes, activities, and outcomes arising from the relationships
and the interactions among tourists, tourism suppliers, host governments, host communities, and
surrounding environments that are involved in the attracting and hosting of visitors. (See the Glossary
for definitions of tourist and excursionist.)
Tourism is a composite of activities, services, and industries that deliver a travel experience: transportation,
accommodations, eating and drinking establishments, shops, entertainment, activity facilities, and other
hospitality services available for individuals or groups that are traveling away from home. It encompasses all
providers of visitor and visitor-related services. Tourism is the entire world industry of travel, hotels,
transportation, and all other components that, including promotion, serve the needs and wants of travelers.
Finally, tourism is the sum total of tourist expenditures within the borders of a nation or a political subdivision
or a transportation-centered economic area of contiguous states or nations. This economic concept also
considers the income multiplier of these tourist expenditures (discussed in Chapter 14).
One has only to consider the multidimensional aspects of tourism and its interactions with other activities to
understand why it is difficult to come up with a meaningful definition that will be universally accepted. Each
of the many definitions that have arisen is aimed at fitting a special situation and solving an immediate
problem, and the lack of uniform definitions has hampered the study of tourism as a discipline.
Development of a field depends on: (1) uniform definitions, (2) description, (3) analysis, (4) prediction, and (5)
control.
Modern tourism is a discipline that has only recently attracted the attention of scholars from many fields. The
majority of studies have been conducted for special purposes and have used narrow operational definitions to
suit particular needs of researchers or government officials; these studies have not encompassed a systems
approach. Consequently, many definitions of tourism and the tourist are based on distance traveled, the length
of time spent, and the purpose of the trip. This makes it difficult to gather statistical information that scholars
can use to develop a database, describe the tourism phenomenon, and do analyses.
The problem is not trivial. It has been tackled by a number of august bodies over the years, including the
League of Nations, the United Nations, and the United Nations
World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
(OECD), the National Tourism Resources Review Commission, and the U.S. Senate’s National Tourism
Policy Study.
The following review of various definitions illustrates the problems of arriving at a consensus.
We examine the concept of the movement of people and the terminology and definitions applied by the United
Nations World Tourism Organization and those of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and
Australia. Later, a comprehensive classification of travelers is provided that endeavors to reflect a consensus of
current thought and practice.
United Nations World Tourism Organization Definitions

The International Conference on Travel and Tourism Statistics convened by the United
Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) in Ottawa, Canada, in 1991 reviewed, updated, and expanded
on the work of earlier international groups. The Ottawa Conference made some fundamental recommendations
on definitions of tourism, travelers, and tourists. The United Nations Statistical Commission adopted the
UNWTO’s recommendations on tourism statistics on March 4, 1993.
Tourism
The UNWTO has taken the concept of tourism beyond a stereotypical image of “holiday making.” The
officially accepted definition is: “Tourism comprises the activities of persons traveling to and staying in places
outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business, and other
purposes.” The term usual environment is intended to exclude trips within the area of usual residence, frequent
and regular trips between the domicile and the workplace, and other community trips of a routine character.
1. International tourism
a. Inbound tourism: Visits to a country by nonresidents
b. Outbound tourism: Visits by residents of a country to another country
2. Internal tourism: Visits by residents and nonresidents of the country of reference
3. Domestic tourism: Visits by residents of a country to their own country
4. National tourism: Internal tourism plus outbound tourism (the resident tourism market for travel agents,
airlines, and other suppliers)
Traveler Terminology for International Tourism

Underlying the foregoing conceptualization of tourism is the overall concept of traveler, defined as “any
person on a trip between two or more countries or between two or more localities within his/her country of
usual residence.” All types of travelers engaged in tourism are described as visitors, a term that constitutes the
basic concept of the entire system of tourism statistics. International visitors are persons who travel for a
period not exceeding twelve months to a country other than the one in which they generally reside and whose
main purpose is other than the exercise of an activity remunerated from within the place visited. Internal
visitors are persons who travel to a destination within their own country, that is outside their usual
environment, for a period not exceeding twelve months.
All visitors are subdivided into two further categories:
1. Same-day visitors: Visitors who do not spend the night in a collective or private accommodation in the
country visited—for example, a cruise ship passenger spending four hours in a port or day-trippers visiting an
attraction
2. Tourists: Visitors who stay in the country visited for at least one night—for example, a visitor on a two-
week vacation
There are many purposes for a visit—notably pleasure, business, and other purposes, such as family reasons,
health, and transit.

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WHAT IS TOURISM?

United Nations World Tourism Organization Definitions

Traveler Terminology for International Tourism

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