Tourism: an introduction

Tourism has turned out to be an economic booster contributing to the economic

development of many countries over the last few decades. People see holidays as a
necessity, and not as luxury in the present scenario. Tourism calls for coordination and
cooperation between travel agents, tour operators, and tourists. Tourism has a few
major elements − destinations, attractions, sites, accommodation, and all ancillary
services.

What is Tourism?
Tourism involves the activities of people travelling and staying in a place away from
their home environment for leisure, business or other purposes.
Mathieson and Wall (1982) define tourism as follows −
"The temporary movement of people to destinations outside their usual places of work and
residence, the activities undertaken during their stay in those destinations, and the facilities
created to cater to their needs."

Tourism was mainly been traditional in its early form. With the evolution of cultures,
economies, and knowledge, tourism took a different form called sustainable tourism
with the aspect of well-planned tour, well-studied destination, and conservation of
destination.

Factors that Motivate People to Travel

The most common reasons for the people to travel away from home are −

 To spend holidays leisurely

 To visit friends and relatives
 To attend business and professional engagements
 To get health treatment
 To undertake religious pilgrimages
 Any other personal motives

What is Tourism Management?

It involves the management of multitude of activities such as studying tour destination,
planning the tour, making travel arrangements and providing accommodation. It also
involves marketing efforts to attract tourists to travel to particular destinations.
There is a subtle difference between just travelling and tourism.
 Travelling is going from the place of residence or work to another distant or a
neighboring place by any means of transport. Routine commutation can be
termed as travelling.
 Tourism is travelling with an objective. All tourism necessarily include travel but
all travel does not necessarily include tourism. We can say, travelling is a subset
of tourism.
One similarity between travel and tourism is, they both are temporary movements.

Tourism Management - Types

In this chapter, we will be discussing the various types of tourism and their
characteristics.

Mass Tourism
It involves tourism of organized large groups of people to special tourist locations. It is
a traditional way where the daily program is fixed by the tour organizer. It is a social
activity. The tourists generally desire for souvenirs and site-seeing.
For example, religious places, theme parks, boat cruises, resort towns.

Alternative Tourism
It includes individually organized tours to find first-hand information about a place, local
culture, and environment.
For example, biking tour planned by an individual while accommodation is catered for
on the go.

Business
It is touring for conducting business transactions, attending business meetings,
workshops, or conferences. The objective of business tourism is mainly professional.

Pleasure
It includes tourism for improving one’s physical or spiritual well-being. For example,
vacation at a Yoga or rehabilitation center.

Nature
It is tourism at places famous for pristine nature and serene beauty. The main objective
is to experience and enjoy nature such as farms and wildlife. Ecotourism is a part of
nature tourism.
Cultural
This type of tourism has an objective of understanding the local history of the place,
foods, local productions, and local culture.

Social
It includes tours conducted among relatives, friends, and others.

Recreational Tourism
It includes travelling to escape from routine life. This is often done for enjoyment,
amusement, or pleasure. For example, Camping or beach visit.

Active Tourism
It is conducted with a clear objective such as climbing a mountain, touring around the
world, or learning local culinary arts or languages.

Sports Tourism
It is tourism for attending some sports event such as World Cup Cricket Match, FIFA,
or Olympics.

Religious Tourism
It involves travelling to places of religious significance such as Vaishno Devi in Jammu-
Kashmir and Golden Temple at Amritsar (India), Mecca in Saudi Arabia, Bethlehem,
and other such places.

Health or Medical Tourism

It involves travelling to improve one’s health. It is with the objective of visiting weight-
loss camps, naturopathy centers, and health resorts.

Adventure Tourism
It involves tourism for adventurous activities such as rock climbing, bungee jumping,
sky-diving, hiking, horse-riding, surfing, rafting, or skiing.

Tourism Management - Terminology

Let us now discuss a few terms that are frequently used in the tourism industry.
 Attraction − It is a physical or cultural feature of a place that can satisfy tourists’
leisure based need.
 Cultural Heritage − It is an expression of the manner of living developed by a
community and passed on from one generation to the next. It includes customs,
practices, places, objects, artistic expressions and values.
 Dark Tourism − (Black or Grief tourism) It is the tourism involving travel to
places historically associated with death and tragedy.
 Destination − It is a place the tourist visits and stays there for at least 24 hours.
The destination supports staying facilities, attractions, and tourist resources.
 Ecotourism − It involves maintenance and enhancement of natural systems
such as water, air, woods and forests, and flora and fauna through tourism.
 Excursionist − Persons traveling for pleasure in a period less than 24 hours
 Foreign Tourist − Any person visiting a country, other than that in which he/she
usually resides, for a period of at least 24 hours.
 Hiking − A long and vigorous walk on the trail.
 Intermediaries − They are the intermediate links between the form of goods and
services tourists do not require and the form of goods and services the tourists
demand.
 Itinerary − A documented plan of the tour.
 Leisure − The free time when obligations are at a minimum and one can relax.
 Recreation − The activities carried out during leisure time.
 Site − It is a particular place bound by physical or cultural characteristics
 Skiing − It is a recreational activity and competitive winter sport in which the
participant uses skis to glide on snow.
 Snorkeling − It is the practice of swimming on or through a water body while
being equipped with a diving mask composed of a shaped tube called a snorkel.
 Terrain − It is a stretch of land, especially with regard to its physical features.
 Tourism Carrying Capacity − The maximum number of people that may visit a
tourist destination at the same time, without causing destruction of the physical,
economic, socio-cultural environment, and an unacceptable decrease in the
quality of visitors' satisfaction.
 Travel − The act of moving outside one's home community for business or
pleasure but not for commuting or traveling to or from usual places.
 United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) − It is the United
Nations (UN) agency responsible for the promotion of responsible, sustainable,
and universally accessible tourism.
 Visitor − A non-residential person visiting the place.
 WTO − World Tourism Organization.

Tourism Management - Factors Affecting

There are many factor that influence the running of the tourism industry. Some show
immediate effect while, there are also factors which affect in the long run.

Environment at Destination
Tourism is in its best form when the destination boasts of conducive climate. In
contrast, any undesired changes in the environment such as high winds, flash floods,
drought, and extreme climate can affect tourism adversely.
For example, during harsh summer months in India, people prefer to travel to colder
climate regions like hill stations.

Economy of the Country

When a country is undergoing economic turbulence and when people are facing
unemployment issues, tourism is affected adversely. On the contrary, when a country’s
economy is doing well and people can afford to spend money on leisure, tourism
progresses.

Historical or Cultural Importance of Destination

The place or destination of travel affects the tourism business to a great extent. If the
destination is of great historical or cultural significance then tourists will certainly like to
visit the place for seeing monuments, castles, forts, ancient architecture, sculptures,
caves, antic paintings and utensils, clothes, weapons, ornaments, and other allied
heritage.
For example, the world famous places of historical and cultural importance are Taj
Mahal (India), Pyramids of Gaza (Egypt), Began City (Burma), Acropolis (Athens,
Greece).

Research Importance of Destination

There are tourists who visit places with the objective of studies and exploration. Need
for research promotes tourism. Archeologists, Geologists, Oceanographers, Biologists
and Zoologists, Architects, and People researching Arts and Cultures seek places that
have great significance in the field of research.

Religious Importance of Destination

The places of religious importance or worship are always flooded with tourists. At these
places, tourism is at its peak at particular time periods in a year. The tourists often go
on pilgrimage to find inner peace and invoke blessings of the deities they worship and
to cleanse their sins before death. For example, Mecca, Bethlehem, Kashi.
Technology
Internet has penetrated to almost every corner of the world. Tourists are
enjoying the benefits of Internet. While planning a tour, the tourists try to get the idea
about the places they are going to visit, the quality of amenities and services, and the
attractions at the destination. After visiting a destination, the experienced tourists share
their opinions on various platforms of the Internet.
Thus, the reviews of experienced tourists shared on the internet work as
guidelines for the following tourists. Hence, just like a double-edged sword, the Internet
can boost as well as bring down the tourism business.