Dictionary Definition
tourism n : the business of providing services to
tourists; "Tourism is a major business in Bermuda" [syn: touristry]
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Noun
- the act of travelling or sightseeing, particularly away from one's home
- collectively, the tourists visiting a place or landmark
Derived terms
Translations
Extensive Definition
Tourism is travel for predominantly recreational or leisure purposes or the
provision of services to support this leisure travel. The World
Tourism Organization defines tourists as people who "travel to
and stay in places outside their usual environment for not more
than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes
not related to the exercise of an activity remunerated from within
the place visited". Tourism has become a popular global leisure
activity. In 2006, there were over 846 million international
tourist arrivals.
Tourism is vital for many countries such as
Egypt,
Thailand
and many island nations such as Fiji, due to the large
intake of money for businesses with their goods and services and
the opportunity for employment in the service
industries associated with tourism. These service industries
include transportation
services such as cruise ships and taxis, accommodation such as
hotels and entertainment venues, and other hospitality
industry services such as resorts.
Definition
Hunziker and Krapf, in 1941, defined tourism as "the sum of the phenomena and relationships arising from the travel and stay of non-residents, insofar as they do not lead to permanent residence and are not connected with any earning activity." In 1976 the Tourism Society of England defined it as "Tourism is the temporary, short-term movement of people to destination outside the places where they normally live and work and their activities during the stay at each destination. It includes movements for all purposes." In 1981 International Association of Scientific Experts in Tourism defined Tourism in terms of particular activities selected by choice and undertaken outside the home environment.The United
Nations classified three forms of tourism in 1994 in its
Recommendations on Tourism Statistics: Domestic tourism, which
involves residents of the given country traveling only within this
country; Inbound tourism, involving non-residents traveling in the
given country; and Outbound tourism, involving residents traveling
in another country.
The UN also derived different categories of
tourism by combining the 3 basic forms of tourism: Internal
tourism, which comprises domestic tourism and inbound tourism;
National tourism, which comprises domestic tourism and outbound
tourism; and International tourism, which consists of inbound
tourism and outbound tourism. Intrabound tourism is a term coined
by the Korea
Tourism Organization and widely accepted in Korea. Intrabound
tourism differs from domestic tourism in that the former
encompasses policymaking and implementation of national tourism
policies.
Recently, the tourism industry has shifted from
the promotion of inbound tourism to the promotion of intrabound
tourism because many countries are experiencing tough competition
for inbound tourists. Some national policymakers have shifted their
priority to the promotion of intrabound tourism to contribute to
the local economy. Examples of such campaigns include "See America"
in the United
States, "Malaysia Truly Asia" in Malaysia, "Get
Going Canada" in Canada, "Wow
Philippines" in the Philippines,
"Uniquely Singapore" in Singapore, "100%
Pure New Zealand" in New Zealand
and "Incredible India" in India.