INTRODUCTION TO TOURISM 2014
CHAPTER ONE
Meaning, Nature & Role of Tourism
Before we go to define tourism, it is necessary to differentiate between what is meant by
leisure, recreation & tourism.
Leisure:
It is most often regarded as the measure of time;
The time remaining after work, sleep & essential house hold or personal chores have
been completed.
It is the time available for doing as one chooses or ‘discretionary time’.
It is the time that people use to do the things they want to do rather than the things they
have to do. For most People, leisure time includes evenings, weekends and vacations.
People need leisure time in order to add pleasure to their lives and to refresh their minds
and bodies.
Leisure can be thought of as a combined measure of time and attitude of mind to create periods
of time when other obligations are at a minimum
Growth of leisure: The increase in the amount of leisure time available is due to a number of
factors:-
1. Working hours have been reduced.
2. Now, there is provision of holiday with pay.
3. Life expectancy has increased.
4. Technological developments like washing machines, dishwashers, computers, telephone
internet and automobiles are widely used.
Recreation: It is the wide variety of activity undertaken during leisure time. These activities
may be participatory (like playing sports, sightseeing, hobbies & pastimes) and non participatory
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(like watching sports, listening to radio, watching TV, home entertainment and public
entertainment)
Tourism: It is regarded as an extreme form of recreation, involving longer time periods,
traveling long distances and often staying overnights. Tourism, is different from other forms of
leisure pursuits, because it requires blocks of time in order to make the journey & stay
worthwhile. Tourism also calls for more money than most other forms of recreation because of
the cost of travel, accommodation, meals & souvenirs.
Tourism represents a particular use of leisure time and a particular form of recreation, but, does
include neither all use of leisure time nor all forms of recreation. It includes much travel but not
all travel. Putting it differently, all tourism involves travel but all travel is not tourism. But all
leisure is not given to tourist pursuits. Tourism is one of a range of choices or styles of recreation
expressed either through travel or a temporary short term change of residence. Tourism on its
modern scale is a relatively new use of leisure. Conceptually, tourism is therefore distinguished
in particular from related concepts of leisure and recreation on the one hand and from travel and
migration on the other.
Herman V. Scholar, an Austrian Economist, in the year 1910 gave one of the earliest definitions
of tourism. He defined it as” the sum total of the operators mainly of an economic nature, which
directly relates to the entry, stay and movement of foreigners inside and out side a certain
country, city or region.
Professors Hunziker and Krampf (1942) - “Tourism is the totality of the relationship and
phenomena arising from the travel and stay of strangers provided the stay does not imply the
establishment of a permanent residence and is not connected with a remunerated activity”.
The Tourism society in Britain (1976) defined tourism as follows: “Tourism is the
temporary short term movement of people to destinations outside the places where they normally
live and work and their activities during the stay at these destinations”.
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INTRODUCTION TO TOURISM 2014
Mathieson & Wall in 1982 defined tourism as: “Tourism is the temporary movement to
destinations outside the normal home and work place, the activities undertaken during the stay
and the facilities created to cater to the needs of the tourist”.
McIntosh. et al(1995)-“Tourism is the sum of the phenomena and relationship arising from the
interaction of tourists, business suppliers, host governments, and host communities in the process
of attracting and hosting these tourists and other visitors”. This definition recognizes four
different elements: the tourist, the business providing travel related services, government (at all
levels) which exerts policy control over tourism, the people who live in the area visited by the
tourist.
According to WTO and approved by UN in 1993,”Tourism is the activity of persons traveling to
and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for
leisure , business, or any other purpose”.
Jafari(1997)-“Tourism is the study of man away from his usual habitat, of the industry which
responds to his need and of the impacts that both he and the industry have on the host socio-
cultural, economic and physical environment”.
From the above definitions, one may deduce the following distinct elements of tourism;
1. Involvement of travel by non residents
2. Stay of temporary nature in the area visited, and
3. Stay not connected with any remunerated activity or an activity involving earnings.
1.2 Nature of Tourism
It is clear from the above definitions that conceptually tourism is a composite phenomenon
involving dynamic elements, like the movement to various places and static ones like their stay
in those places.
Thus tourism embraces the incidence of a mobile population of travelers, who are strange
to the place they visit and are a distinct element from the resident and working population. Most
importantly, tourism implies the temporary movement of people with an intention to return a few
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days, weeks or months. As such, tourism is distinct from migration, which involves the long term
movement of people. Thus, tourism is essentially a pleasure activity in which money earned in
the place of normal residence is spent in the place visited.
1.3 Forms of Tourism
Basically, there are three forms of tourism. In relation to a given country (say Ethiopia), the
following forms of tourism can be distinguished:
1. Domestic tourism: It involves residents of Ethiopia traveling only within their
country. E.g. from Gondar to Bahir Dar, or from Addis Ababa to Axum.
2. Inbound tourism: It involves non residents (e.g. Indians, Italians, Germans, British)
traveling in Ethiopia.
3. Outbound tourism: It involves Ethiopians (residents) traveling in another country.
E.g. Ethiopians travelling in Japan
These three forms of tourism are combined in many ways and derive the categories of tourism.
The three principal categories of tourism are:
1. International tourism: It consists of inbound tourism and outbound tourism in
Ethiopia.
2. National tourism: it consists of domestic tourism and outbound tourism in Ethiopia.
3. Internal tourism: It comprises of domestic and inbound tourism in Ethiopia.
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INTRODUCTION TO TOURISM 2014
INTERNAL DT NATIONAL TOURISM
TOURISM
I O
T T
INTERNATIONAL TOURISM
Fig. 1 forms and categories of tourism
1.4 Definition of Traveler, Visitor and Tourist
Traveler- any person on a trip between two or more countries or between two or more localities
within his/ her countries.
Visitor- in 1963 the United Nations sponsored a conference on travel and tourism in Rome. The
conference recommended definitions of visitor and tourist for use in international statistics. For
statistical purposes, the term visitor is defined as follows:
Visitor- a person who travels to a country other than that in which he has his usual residence but
outside to the usual environment for a period not exceeding 12 months and whose main purpose
of visit is other than the exercise of an activity remunerated from within the place visited
Visitors are classified in to two:
a) Same day visitors (excursionists) - don’t spend at least one night. They are temporary
visitors staying less than 24 hours in the place visited.
b) Tourist- stay for at least one night in the place or country visited. They are temporary
visitors staying at least 24 hours in the place visited.
International visitor-
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INTRODUCTION TO TOURISM 2014
An international visitor is anyone who visits a country that is not his usual place of residence. It
includes (overnight visitor) tourist and (same day visitor) and excursionist. The people on
holiday, visiting friends and relatives(VFR),business trip, conference, attend ace, pilgrimage,
educational, for international events-all fall under this definition.
The only people who do not come in this preview are people who get some salary or payments in
the visited, commuters, immigrants, refuges, military men and diplomats.
Domestic visitor
The WTO (1983) recommends the following definition of domestic visitors:
The term domestic visitor describes any person regardless of nationality resident in a country and
who travels to a place in the same country for not more than one year and whose purpose of visit
is other than following an occupation remunerated from within the place visited. This definition
covers domestic tourists, where an overnight stay is involved, and domestic excursionists
where the stay in the place visited is less than 24 hours and no over night stay is involved.
Definition of Tourist
The raison d’être of the industry is the tourist, so all development and planning must be predicted
on the understanding of who this person is if it is to succeed.
The term ‘tourist’ is derived from the word ‘tour’, meaning according to Webster’s dictionary:
“A journey at which one returns to the starting point; a circular trip usually for business, pleasure
or education during which various places are visited and for which an itinerary is usually
planned.”
League of Nations in 1937 defined ‘tourist’ in the following way: “A Tourist is any person
visiting a country other than in which he usually resides for a period of at least 24 hours.”
“Temporary visitor staying at least 24 hours in the country visited and the purpose of his /her
journey can be classified under one of the following headings:
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INTRODUCTION TO TOURISM 2014
Leisure(recreation, health, study, religion , and sports)
Business, family, mission, and meeting.
The 19 th century dictionary defines tourist as “a person who travels for pleasure of traveling
out of curiosity, and because he has nothing better to do.” The term tourist, the oxford dictionary
tells us, was used as early as 1800. According to the dictionary universal, the ‘tourist’ is a person
who makes a journey for the sake of curiosity, for the fun of traveling, or just to tell others that
he has traveled.
Foreign Tourist-
League of Nations in the year 1937gave the definition of foreign tourist as: “Any person visiting
a country, other than that in which he resides, for a period of at least 24 hours.”
Domestic Tourist-
Any person traveling within the country where he resides to a place other than his usual place of
residence for at least 24 hours or one night and the purpose of his journey can be classified under
one of the following headings:
Leisure(recreation, health, study, religion , and sports)
Business, family, mission, and meeting.
1.5. Different Types of Tourism
Tourism attractions determine different types of tourism. On the basis of the purpose, tourism is
classified:
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INTRODUCTION TO TOURISM 2014
Pleasure Tourism: This is concerned with leisure and rest and to recover physical and
mental stamina and to re-energize. It includes holiday for change, to take rest, to witness folk
dance, songs or to test different cuisines. Pleasure is when you drive happiness or joy after
doing something.
Cultural Tourism: This is concerned with learning habits, language and customs of the
people in the foreign lands, visiting places rich in historical monuments, ancient civilization
or paying visit to art galleries, museums or to participate in music, art, dance and festivals.
Sports Tourism: These are two types (1).visiting places to witness sports like Olympics or
world cup foot ball or winter sports, mountain climbing, hunting, fishing etc. (2)
Participating in such sports.
Conference Tourism: traveling to participate in trade fair, conference, meetings and
exhibitions.
Business Tourism: All tours undertaken by business men, industrialist or professionals to a
place of their interest for selling, buying or taking orders, etc, of products related to business.
Social Tourism: It is practiced by masses and rendered possibly by the help of third party or
governments or association by means of holiday with pay and other measures.
Water Based Tourism: The tourism based on water based activities is called as water based
tourism, such as diving, rafting, sailing, snorkeling, swimming, etc. This type of tourism is
also based on water transportation. E.g. Cruise tourism, Yachting tourism, River tourism.
Nature Based Tourism: This type of tourism is based on nature related activities. E.g. Eco
tourism, Wild life tourism.
Adventure Tourism: Here risk, danger, and sprit of adventure are involved. E.g. White
water rafting, Mountain biking, Para sailing, etc.
Ethnic Tourism: Signifies the tourists’ interests in the customs of the indigenous and exotic
peoples. It involves intimate contacts with the “authentic”-traditional or original-indigenous
culture. The tourists visits the homes of the local people, observes and participates in their
festivals, dances, rituals and other forms of cultural expressions. Tourists direct contact with
the local people( first- hand experience with the way of life and cultural artifacts) is very vital
which differentiates it from that of cultural tourism
Agri -tourism: farm based tourism, helping to support the local agricultural economy.
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INTRODUCTION TO TOURISM 2014
Adventure tourism: tourism involving travel in rugged regions, or adventurous sports such
as mountaineering and hiking (tramping).
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 traveling 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.
Backpacker Tourism: is a term used to denote a form of low-cost independent international
travel, differentiating it from other forms of tourism notably by the following typical
attributes: minimal budget use, longer duration traveling, use of public transport and multiple
destinations/countries. The origin of the name comes from the backpacks that budget
travelers generally carry in the interests of mobility and flexibility.
Bookstore Tourism: is a grassroots effort to support independent bookstores by promoting
them as a travel destination.
Creative Tourism: is a new form of tourism that allows visitors to develop their creative
potential, and get closer to local people, through informal participation in hands-on
workshops that draw on the culture of their holiday destinations.
Coastal Tourism: involves tourist products located along Coastal Environments - due to the
limited extent of coastal environments they often are amongst the first places to experience
tourist congestion for a region.
Dark tourism: is the travel to sites associated with death and suffering. The first tourist
agency to specialize in this kind of tourism started with trips to Lakehurst, New Jersey, the
scene of the Hindenburg airship disaster.
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 traveling 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.
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INTRODUCTION TO TOURISM 2014
Extreme tourism: tourism associated with high risk.
Free Independent Traveler: a sector of the market and philosophy of constructing a
vacation by sourcing one's own components e.g. accommodation, transport.
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, St. Petersburg, 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 Sanatoriums or "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-perditions, 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.
Mass Tourism: is an ecotourism policy to minimize the footprint of tourists by concentrating
them into a small area. Mass tourism also maximizes the utilization of tourist infrastructure.
Medical tourism: e.g.
1. for what is illegal in one's own country, such as abortion or euthanasia
2. 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
3. for use of free or cheap health care organizations
Mystical tourism: Tourism for people that believe feel energy and travel to places to
meditate, yoga, special events, ceremonies, mystical rituals.
Pop-culture tourism: tourism by those that visit a particular location after reading about it or
seeing it in a film.
Perpetual tourism: individuals always on vacation; some of them, for tax purposes, to avoid
being resident in any country.
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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: traveling solely for the purpose of sexual activity, usually with prostitutes.
Shopping tourism: promoting shopping festivals as tourist draw cards such as the Dubai,
Singapore, and Hong Kong.
Space tourism: traveling in outer space or on spaceships.
Vacilando: is a special kind of wanderer for whom the process of traveling 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.
1.6 The Tourism System
It is an organizing framework of tourism industry dealing with the linkage of tourism
components. The system is suggested by Leiper in 1979 and updated in 1990. There are 3 basic
elements of Leiper’s model.
1. Tourists:
The tourist is the actor in this system. Tourism, after all, is a human experience enjoyed,
anticipated, and remembered by many as a very important aspect of their lives.
2. Geographical elements:
Leiper outlines 3 geographical elements in his model.
Traveler generating region: it represents the generating market for tourism, and in a
sense provides the ‘push’ to stimulate and motivate travel.
For example, travel agents and tour operators are predominantly found in the traveler
generating region
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Tourist destination region: represents the ‘sharp end’ of tourism. At the destination the
full impact of tourism felt and planning and management strategies are implemented.
‘The pull to visit’ destinations energizes the whole tourism system and creates demand
for travel in the generating region.
E.g attractions and hospitality industry are found in the destination region,
The transit route region: it represents not only the short period of travel to reach the
destination; but also the intermediate places, which may be visited enroot.
E.g transport industries are located in the transit route region.
3. Tourism industry:
It is the place where range of businesses and organizations are involved in delivering the tourism
product.
For example, travel agents and tour operators are predominantly found in the traveler
generating region, attractions and hospitality industry are found in the destination region, while
the transport industries are located in the transit route region.
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