tourism - index-travel.com

Tourism is the act of travel for the purpose of recreation and business, and the provision of services for this act. Tourists are people who are "travelling to and staying 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" (official UNWTO definition). The distance between these two places is of no significance.

A more comprehensive definition would be that tourism is a service industry, comprising a number of tangible and intangible components. The tangible elements include transport systems — air, rail, road, water and now, space; hospitality services — accommodation, foods and beverages, tours, souvenirs; and related services such as banking, insurance and safety and security. The intangible elements include: rest and relaxation, culture, escape, adventure, new and different experiences.

Many countries depend heavily upon travel expenditures by foreigners as a source of taxation and as a source of income for the enterprises that sell (export) services to these travellers. Consequently the development of tourism is often a strategy employed either by a Non-governmental organization (NGO) or a governmental agency to promote a particular region for the purpose of increasing commerce through exporting goods and services to non-locals.

Sometimes Tourism and Travel are used interchangeably. In this context travel has a similar definition to tourism, but implies a more purposeful journey.

The terms tourism and tourist are sometimes used pejoratively, implying a shallow interest in the societies and places that the tourist visits.

For the past few decades other forms of tourism, also known as niche tourism, have been becoming more popular, particularly:

Adventure tourism: tourism involving travel in rugged regions, or adventurous sports such as mountaineering and hiking (tramping).
Agritourism: farm based tourism, helping to support the local agricultural economy.
Ancestry tourism: (also known as genealogy tourism) is the travel with the aim of tracing one's ancestry, visiting the birth places of these ancestors and sometimes getting to know distant family.
Armchair tourism and virtual tourism: not travelling physically, but exploring the world through internet, books, TV, etc.
Audio tourism: includes audio walking tours and other audio guided forms of tourism including museum audio guides and audio travel books.
Bookstore Tourism is a grassroots effort to support independent bookstores by promoting them as a travel destination.
Cultural tourism: includes urban tourism, visiting historical or interesting cities, such as Berlin, Kathmandu, Lahore, Lima, Buenos Aires, London, Paris, Delhi, Rome, Prague, Dubrovnik, Beijing, Istanbul, Kyoto, Warsaw, and experiencing their cultural heritages. This type of tourism may also include specialized cultural experiences, such as art museum tourism where the tourist visits many art museums during the tour, or opera tourism where the tourist sees many operas or concerts during the tour.
Dark tourism: is the travel to sites associated with death and suffering. The first tourist agency to specialise in this kind of tourism started with trips to Lakehurst, New Jersey, the scene of the Hindenburg airship disaster.
Disaster tourism: travelling to a disaster scene not primarily for helping, but because it is interesting to see. It can be a problem if it hinders rescue, relief and repair work.
Drug tourism: travel to a country to obtain or consume drugs, either legally or illegally.
Ecotourism: sustainable tourism which has minimal impact on the environment, such as safaris (Kenya), Rainforests (Belize) and hiking (Lapland), or national parks.
Educational tourism: may involve travelling to an education institution, a wooded retreat or some other destination in order to take personal-interest classes, such as cooking classes with a famous chef or crafts classes.
Extreme tourism tourism associated with high risk
Gambling tourism, e.g. to Atlantic City, Las Vegas, Palm Springs, California, Macau or Monte Carlo for the purpose of gambling at the casinos there.
Garden tourism visiting botanical gardens famous places in the history of gardening, such as Versailles and the Taj Mahal.
Heritage tourism: visiting historical (Rome, Athens, Cracow) or industrial sites, such as old canals, railways, battlegrounds, etc.
Health tourism: usually to escape from cities or relieve stress, perhaps for some 'fun in the sun', etc. Often to "health spas".
Hobby tourism: tourism alone or with groups to participate in hobby interests, to meet others with similar interests, or to experience something pertinent to the hobby. Examples might be garden tours, amateur radio DX-peditions, or square dance cruises.
Inclusive tourism: tourism marketed to those with functional limits or disabilities. Referred to as "Tourism for All" in some regions. Destinations often employ Universal Design and Universal Destination Development principles.
Medical tourism, e.g.:
- for what is illegal in one's own country, e.g. abortion, euthanasia; for instance, euthanasia for non-citizens is provided by Dignitas in Switzerland.
- for advanced care that is not available in one's own country
- in the case that there are long waiting lists in one's own country
- for use of free or cheap health care organisations
Pop-culture tourism: tourism by those that visit a particular location after reading about it or seeing it in a film.
Perpetual tourism: wealthy individuals always on vacation; some of them, for tax purposes, to avoid being resident in any country.
Pilgrimage Tourism: pilgrimages to ancient holy places (Rome and Santiago de Compostela for Catholics, Temples and stupas of Nepal for the Hindus and Buddhist, Mount Athos or Painted churches of northern Moldavia for the Orthodox), religious sites such as mosques, shrines, etc.
Sex tourism: travelling solely for the purpose of sexual activity, usually with prostitutes
Solo Travel: travelling alone
Sport travel: skiing, golf and scuba diving are popular ways to spend a vacation. Also in this category is vacationing at the winter home of the tourist's favorite baseball team, and seeing them play everyday.
Space tourism
Vacilando is a special kind of wanderer for whom the process of travelling is more important than the destination.
Wine tourism, the visiting of growing regions, vineyards, wineries, tasting rooms, wine festivals, and similar places or events for the purpose of consuming or purchasing wine.