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Tourism and Tourist
Concept and Meaning of Tourism
The word tourism is derived from the French word 'Tourisme', literally means to tour travel. Tourism is the process of temporary movement in the particular destination undertaken by the human that starts from one point and ultimately ends at the point where one started the journey from. It is a phenomenon of human character related to tour and travelling at a particular area, locality, sites, places, etc. But travelling without any reason for temporary stay is not termed as tourism. It is something about people who travel away from their familiar home environment for many reasons. In order to know the meaning of tourism, one should also know the simple ideology of 'tour'.
Tour
Tour is derived from the Latin word tournel/tournes (Greek word), which refers to circle. The oxford dictionary relates tour as 'a journey for pleasure, during which one visits several areas'. The suffix "ism and ist" refers to the movement around the circle by the people. Like a circle, tour represents a journey that is a round trip. Therefore, one who undertakes such a journey is called tourist. The word tourism came to be added in the English dictionary only after 19th century.
According to the Tourism Society of United Kingdom, "Tourism is the temporary movement of people to destination outside of the places where they normally live and work, and their activities during their stay at these destinations."
In 1942, two Swiss professors, Water Hunziker and Kurt Kraft had defined tourism a "Tourism is the sum of phenomenon and relationship arising from the travel and stay of non-resident, in so far as they do not lead to permanent resident and are not connected with any earning activities."
In 1968, International Union of Official Tourism Organization (IUOTO) and World Tourism Organization (WTO) had defined tourism and tourist as- "The tourists are temporary visitors staying at least 24 hours in the country visited and tourism is the living activities at the spotlight."
The purpose of journey can be classified in the following headings:
· Leisure
Tourists/visitors who travel to destinations with a reason to spend time to get enjoyment and entertainment, and working nothing in professional way. The activities of the movement may be planned and managed as per the likes and interest for pleasure and fun of individual desire. For example, recreation, holiday, health, study, religion, sports, education, etc.
· Business
Tourists/visitors who travel to destinations with a reason to spend time to get optional enjoyment and entertainment, and working something in professional way. For example, business meeting, convention, conference, seminar, any special mission, etc.
Mr. Valen L. Smith's definition is internationally recognized, particularly in the academic sphere. According to him, "A tourist is a temporally leisured person who voluntarily visits a place away from home for experiencing a change".
A United Nation conference held in Rome in 1963, on "International Travel and Tourism" had recommended the word visitors in two different categories:
1. Tourist
2. Excursionist
Tourist are the people who travel to destinations for a variety of reasons and spend more than twenty four hours and less than one year consecutively. Excursionist is a temporary visitor, staying less than twenty four hours in the destination visited and not staying overnight.
Tourist and Types
There is no hard and fast rule as fas as the division of tourists is concerned. Since the inception of the concept of tourism, various organizations such as airlines, hotels, travel, organizers, etc. have segregated tourists based on their purpose of visit. WTO (World Tourism Organization) has categorized tourists into following types:
Types | Activities |
Recreation Tourists | Club and casino, spa, fun, sports centre, etc |
Holiday tourists | Cultural tour, shopping, theme parks, etc. |
Leisure tourists | Places of historical importance, museums, art clubs, etc. |
Student tourists | Studies and research |
Religious tourists | Pilgrimage, religious charity activities, etc. |
Special interest group | Business, meeting, conference, convention, shopping, etc. |
Adventure Tourist | Jungle safari, mountaineering, rafting, trekking, kayaking, bungee jumping, exploration, etc. |
Meaning and Concept of Tourist
· Tourists are an important mass of people who generate economic activities.
· Tourists are one of those parts of the economy that use services such as accommodation, food and beverage, transportations and recreations.
· Tourists are those visitors who seek to get away from their home/place for a change.
· The destination visited should be purely temporary in nature and lot for the purpose of permanent residence and employment.
· Tourists may represent an important proportion of the total visitor population, but they are not the total pleasure/recreational activities alone.
· Tourists are those people who are able to receive the tourist activities/amenities and possess the capacity to pay for their targeted trip.
Since 1963, almost all world nations adopted the term visitors, tourist, traveler concerned will all the individuals making a trip between two or more geographic locations either in their country of residence or between countries.
1. The domestic tourist
2. The regional tourist
3. The international tourist
People who travel within their own regional boundaries of the same country are categorized as domestic tourists. People who travel from permanent resident to regional places of the same country where the states/regions are politically separated by the country, they are categorized as regional tourist. People who travel to another country crossing the boundary they are categorized as international (foreign) tourists.
The basis of country boundaries for tourism activities is conceptually defined "In-bound tourism" and "Out-bound tourism". International tourists arriving in another country are referred to as in-bound tourists, while departing tourists setting off for another country are out-bound tourists.
Tourism is concerned with providing the following supplies:
• Package tour/travel (holiday and pre-paid tour arrangement)
• Transportation (air craft, train, ship, bus, coach, limo, car, auto, taxi, etc.)
• Accommodation (hotels, lodge, guest house, rest house, etc.)
• Food and beverage (restaurants, bars, cafe, pubs, cafeterials, etc.)
• Recreation and health (clubs, yoga centre, etc.)
• Culture and special events (folk cultural show, festive events, etc.)
• Theme parks and sporting activities (botanical garden, sports centre, etc.)
• Shopping and souvenir (super markets, curio stalls, handicraft shop, etc.)
• Information and assistance (tourist related offices, whole sellers, agencies, etc.)
Nature of Tourism
The nature of tourism is closely connected with travelling. It has been a human phenomenon since the beginning of human civilization. It is a sensitive factor of the human nature in the context of moving to survive, explore, and to know the unknown. In the early times, they stared travelling as normads in search of prey and food. Later, the development of the agricultural system created a base of the movement of people as a traveler. Then the output of industrial revolution made travelling prominent to various destinations. It made the travellers' life style eaiser and safer to realize their tourism activities.
Thus, the modern tourism is absolutely changed due to complete development of over all sectors of tourism components and consciousness of the people. The nature of tourism is described in the following headings:
• Tourism and service
Tourism is a service industry, which is composed of those sectors of the economy that are involved in providing service, such as accommodation, food, beverage, transportation and recreations as well as distribution and sales services. Tourism industry has been taken as the term that denotes work, productivity, employment income, economic growth, social development, etc. But it does not produce any commodity which cannot be touched or taken home. Hence, tourism is a hospitality industry and a bridge between people. It makes a valuable contribution to the world's economy by employing more people than any other industry.
• Tourism is a contributor to the economy
Through tourism, a great deal of income is generated in the economy in the form of domestic or international exchange. A large chunk of workforce gets employed in this industry. It is also a major contributor to the public revenue. The nature too can be conserved owing to tourism. The natural resources of the economy can be tapped and the friendly relation with other countries can result in the benefit of the economy.
• Tourism comprises of various industrial business
Tourism can be defined as the activities of the tourists and those who cater for them. Therefore, it is evident from the above definition that tourists alone are insufficient for the tourism industry. The existence of other components is equally crucial for the proper functioning of this industry. Hence, the co-existence of diverse business organizations makes this industry possible. Therefore, it is also regarded as smokeless industry/seasonal industry/decentralized industry or legitimate industry (an industry of industries).
• Tourism products are highly perishable
The intangible product involved in tourism i.e., service, is very short lived. It is not possible to store like tangible products. Hence, if the service is not rendered within a definite time frame, then the return tends to be zero, or even negative. Such lost revenue can never be recovered.
• Tourism is related with sumptuousness
Tourism is an activity undertaken by the people during leisure for pleasure. Hence, tourism activities are almost non-existent among the low income group people with a low purchasing capacity. It is a luxurious concept primarily associated with the affluent and high class people having higher purchasing power. Therefore, we normally find the people from the rich countries mostly undertaking the tourism activities.
• Tourism products are stationary
In tourism industry the attractions inspire the aspirations of the tourists. The attractions, such as the mountains, lakes, historical monuments, museums, theme and fun parks, gorges, valleys, waterfalls, climate and seasons, flora and fauna, etc. are something which cannot be copied or imitated by any other countries. At the same time they are immobile. A prospective tourists need to approach these beauties and not vice a versa.
• Tourism is an incessant industry
There is no any horizon or end to the tourism activities. Creative minds can always come up with new ideas and creativity. In tourism industry there is non-stop movement of people and the incessant move give rise to more tourism activities.
• Tourism is an inspiration to the motivation of life style
Tourism inspires, the people to exchange the life style, technically and scientifically, as it insists their desires to experience a change and willingness to spend money and time. Tourism inspires the traveler to get the new ideas both positive and negative and aspires to adopt in one's own life.
• Tourism helps in educating the mass
There exists a spontaneous process of learning and exchange of ideas in this industry. The scope of exploration and discovery is very high among adventure tourists. Due to tourism there is exists a respect for each others' religious belief, cultural values, tradition, rites and rituals.
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