Abstract
This chapter introduces its readers to the concept of tourism. It sheds light on the rationale for tourism, as it explains the tourists' inherent motivations to travel. It also describes different aspects that together make up the tourism industry. Tourists travel to destinations that are accessible to them. They require accommodation if they are visiting a place for more than 24 hours. Leisure and business travelers may also visit attractions and engage themselves in recreational activities. Hence, the tourist destinations should have the right amenities and facilities. In this light, this chapter clarifies how destinations may offer different products to satisfy a wide array of tourists. Tourism products can include urban (or city) tourism, seaside tourism, rural tourism, ecotourism, wine tourism, culinary tourism, health tourism, medical tourism, religious tourism, cultural (or heritage) tourism, sports tourism, educational tourism, business tourism (including meetings, incentives, conferences, and events), among others.
TopDefining Tourism
Individuals become tourists when they voluntarily leave their normal surroundings, where they reside, to visit another environment. These individuals will usually engage in different activities, regardless of how close or how far this environment (destination) is (Hall, 2008; Holloway & Taylor, 2006; Jafari, 2002). Therefore, tourists are visitors, and what they you do whilst visiting another place may be considered as tourism. Back in 1963, the United Nations Conference on International Travel and Tourism agreed to use the term ‘visitors’ (other than residents) to describe individuals visiting another country. This definition covered two classes of visitor: Tourists were classified as temporary visitors staying at least 24 hours in a destination. If they are travelling for recreation, health, sport, holiday, study or religious purposes, their visit could be categorized as leisure. Alternatively, excursionists, including cruise travelers may be considered as temporary visitors, if they stay in a destination for less than 24 hours. However, these definitions fail to take into account the domestic tourists. In 1976, the Institute of Tourism (which later became the Tourism Society) suggested that tourism is the temporary short-term movement of people to destinations outside the places where they normally live and work. Therefore, tourism includes the movement of people for all purposes, including day visits or excursions (Cooper, 2008; Holloway & Taylor, 2006).
This broader definition was slightly reformulated at the International Conference on Leisure Recreation Tourism that was organized by the Worldwide Network of Tourism Experts (AIEST) and the Tourism Society in Cardiff, in 1981: Tourism may be defined in terms of particular activities, selected by choice, and undertaken outside the home environment. Tourism may or may not involve overnight stay away from home. In 1991, the United Nations World Tourism Organization declared that Tourism comprises the activities of persons travelling to and staying in places outside of their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business or other purposes. At this stage, one could differentiate between domestic and international tourism (Yuksel, 2004). The former refers to travel that is exclusively undertaken within the national boundaries of the traveler’s home country. The latter refers to travel within the borders of one’s home country. Domestic travel will have an impact on the balance of payments and will reduce the outflow of money from the tourists’ home country (Mathieson & Wall, 1982).