Tourism is defined as a composite of activities, services, and industries that delivers a travel experience to individuals and groups traveling fifty miles or more from their homes for purposes of pleasure.
The business sectors comprising the tourism industry include: transportation, accommodations, eating and drinking establishments, shops, entertainment venues, activity facilities, and a variety of hospitality service providers who cater to individuals or groups traveling away from home.
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people who "travel to and stay in places outside their usual environment for more than twenty-four (24) hours and 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".[3] Tourism has become a popular global leisure activity. In 2008, there were over 922 million international tourist arrivals, with a growth of 1.9% as compared to 2007. International tourism receipts grew to US$944 billion (euro 642 billion) in 2008, corresponding to an increase in real terms of 1.8%.[1]
As a result of the economic crisis of 2008, international travel demand suffered a strong slowdown beginning in June 2008, with growth in international tourism arrivals worldwide falling to 2% during the boreal summer months,[4] and this negative trend intensified as international tourist arrivals fell by 8% during the first four months of 2009.[1] Thereafter this declining trend was exacerbated in some regions due to the outbreak of the influenza AH1N1 virus.[1]
Tourism is vital for many countries, such as the U.A.E, Egypt, Greece and Thailand, and many island nations, such as The Bahamas, Fiji, Maldives and the Seychelles, due to the large intake of money for businesses with their goods and services and the opportunity for employment in the service industries associated with tourism. These service industries include transportation services, such as airlines, cruise ships and taxis, hospitality services, such as accommodations, including hotels and resorts, and entertainment venues, such as amusement parks, casinos, shopping malls, various music venues and the theatre.
Tourism is a collection of activities, services and industries that delivers a travel experience, including transportation, accommodations, eating and drinking establishments, retail shops, entertainment businesses, activity facilities and other hospitality services provided for individuals or groups traveling away from home. The World Tourism Organization (WTO) claims that tourism is currently the worlds largest industry with annual revenues of over $3 trillion dollars. Tourism provides over six million jobs in the United States, making it the country's largest employer.
Definition of Tourism
Mathieson and Wall (1982) created a good working definition of tourism as "the temporary movement of people to destinations outside their normal places of work and residence, the activities undertaken during their stay in those destinations, and the facilities created to cater to their needs."
According to Macintosh and Goeldner (1986) tourism is "the sum of the phenomena and relationships 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."
Other terms of interest are:
Excurionist: Persons traveling for pleasure in a period less than 24 hours (Macintosh and Goeldner, 1986).
Foreign Tourist: Any person visiting a country, other than that in which he/she usually resides, for a period of at least 24 hours (Committee of Statistical Experts of the League of Nations, 1937).
Travel: The act of moving outside one's home community for business or pleasure but not for commuting or traveling to or from school (Macintosh and Goeldner, 1986).
Visitor: Any person visiting a country other than that in which he/she has his/her usual place of residence, for any reason other than following an occupation remunerated from within the country visited (United Nations Conference on International Travel and Tourism, 1963).