 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 2004, there were over 763 million
international tourist arrivals.
Tourism is vital for many countries, due to the income generated by the
consumption of goods and services by tourists, the taxes levied on businesses
in the tourism industry, 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, restaurants, bars, and entertainment venues, and other hospitality
industry services such as spas and resorts.
Definition
1910 - One of the earliest definitions of tourism was provided by the Austrian
economist in 1910, who defined it as, "some total of operators, mainly of an
economic nature, which directly relate to the entry, stay and movement of
foreigners inside and outside a certain country, city or a region."
1941 - 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."
1976 - 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."
1981 - International Association of Scientific Experts in Tourism defined
Tourism in terms of particular activities selected by choice and undertaken
outside the home environment.
1994 - 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.
Intra-bound tourism is a term coined by the Korea Tourism Organization and
widely accepted in Korea. Intra-bound tourism differs from domestic tourism in
that the former encompasses policy-making and implementation of national
tourism policies.
Recently, the tourism industry has shifted from the promotion of inbound
tourism to the promotion of intra-bound tourism because many countries are
experiencing tough competition for inbound tourists. Some national
policymakers have shifted their priority to the promotion of intra-bound
tourism to contribute to the local economy. Examples of such campaigns include
"See America" in the United States, "Get Going Canada" in Canada, and "Guseok
Guseok" (corner to corner) in South Korea.
Before people are able to experience tourism they usually need disposable
income (i.e. money to spend on non-essentials); time off from work or other
responsibilities; leisure time tourism infrastructure, such as transport and
accommodation; and legal clearance to travel.
Individually, sufficient health is also a condition, and of course the
inclination to travel. Furthermore, in some countries there are legal
restrictions on traveling, especially abroad. Certain states with strong
governmental control over the lives of citizens (notably established Communist
states) may restrict foreign travel only to trustworthy citizens. The United
States prohibits its citizens from traveling to some countries, for example
Cuba.
|
