Tourism

Times Square is the hub of the Broadway theatre district and a major cultural venue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The pedestrian intersection also have one of the highest annual attendance-rates of any tourist attraction in the world, estimated at 60 million.^[1]

A tourist taking photographs and video at the archaeological site of Chichén Itza.

Backpacker tourism in Vienna.

Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours.^[2] The World Tourism Organization defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as being limited to holiday activity only", as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure and not less than 24 hours, business and other purposes".^[3] Tourism can be domestic (within the traveller's own country) or international, and international tourism has both incoming and outgoing implications on a country's balance of payments.

Tourism numbers declined as a result of a strong economic slowdown (the late-2000s recession) between the second half of 2008 and the end of 2009, and in consequence of the outbreak of the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus,^[4][5] but slowly recovered until the COVID-19 pandemic put an abrupt end to the growth. The United Nations World Tourism Organization estimated that global international tourist arrivals might decrease by 58% to 78% in 2020, leading to a potential loss of US$0.9–1.2 trillion in international tourism receipts.^[6]

Globally, international tourism receipts (the travel item in balance of payments) grew to US$1.03 trillion (€740 billion) in 2005, corresponding to an increase in real terms of 3.8% from 2010.^[7] International tourist arrivals surpassed the milestone of 1 billion tourists globally for the first time in 2012,^[8] emerging source markets such as China, Russia, and Brazil had significantly increased their spending over the previous decade.^[9]

Global tourism accounts for c. 8% of global greenhouse-gas emissions.^[10] Emissions as well as other significant environmental and social impacts that are not always beneficial to local communities and their economies. For this reason, many tourist development organizations have begun to focus on sustainable tourism in order to mitigate negative effects caused by the growing impact of tourism. The United Nations World Tourism Organization emphasized these practices by promoting tourism as part of the Sustainable Development Goals, through programs like the International Year for Sustainable Tourism for Development in 2017,^[11] and programs like focusing on how SDG 8, SDG 12 and SDG 14 implicate tourism in creating a sustainable economy.^[12]

Etymology[]

The word tourist was used in 1772^[13] and tourism in 1811.^[14] It is formed from the word tour, which is derived from Old English turian, from Old French torner, from Latin tornare; 'to turn on a lathe,' which is itself from Ancient Greek tornos (τόρνος); 'lathe'.^[15]

One of the most important tourist destinations in Northern Italy, the Habsburg Miramare Castle.

One of the main attractions of northern Lapland in terms of tourism is the opportunity to locate bright Aurora Borealis in the sky.^[16] The picture was taken from Ruka, Finland in 2011.

Red Square, one of the most famous squares in the world

Definitions[]

In 1936, the League of Nations defined a foreign tourist as "someone traveling abroad for at least twenty-four hours". Its successor, the United Nations, amended this definition in 1945, by including a maximum stay of six months.^[17]

In 1941, Hunziker and Kraft defined tourism as "the sum of the phenomena and relationships arising from the travel and stay of non-residents, insofar as they do not lead to permanent residence and are not connected with any earning activity."^[18][19] In 1976, the Tourism Society of England's definition was: "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 each destination. It includes movements for all purposes."^[20] In 1981, the International Association of Scientific Experts in Tourism defined tourism in terms of particular activities chosen and undertaken outside the home.^[21]

In 1994, the United Nations identified three forms of tourism in its Recommendations on Tourism Statistics:^[22]

• Domestic tourism, involving residents of the given country traveling only within this country
• Inbound tourism,^[23] involving non-residents traveling in the given country
• Outbound tourism, involving residents traveling in another country

Other groupings derived from the above grouping:^[24]

• National tourism, a combination of domestic and outbound tourism
• Regional tourism, a combination of domestic and inbound tourism
• International tourism, a combination of inbound and outbound tourism

The terms tourism and travel are sometimes used interchangeably. In this context, travel has a similar definition to tourism but implies a more purposeful journey. The terms tourism and tourist are sometimes used pejoratively, to imply a shallow interest in the cultures or locations visited. By contrast, traveller is often used as a sign of distinction. The sociology of tourism has studied the cultural values underpinning these distinctions and their implications for class relations.^[25]

Tourism products[]

According to the World Tourism Organization, a tourism product is:^[26]

"a combination of tangible and intangible elements, such as natural, cultural and man-made resources, attractions, facilities, services and activities around a specific center of interest which represents the core of the destination marketing mix and creates an overall visitor experience including emotional aspects for the potential customers. A tourism product is priced and sold through distribution channels and it has a life-cycle".

Tourism product covers a wide variety of services including:^[27]

• Accommodation services from low cost homestays to five star hotels
• Hospitality services including food and beverage serving centers
• Health care services like massage
• All modes of transport, its booking and rental
• Travel agencies, guided tours and tourist guides
• Cultural services such as religious monuments, museums, and historical places
• Shopping

International tourism[]

This section is an excerpt from International tourism.[]

International tourism over time

International tourism is tourism that crosses national borders. Globalisation has made tourism a popular global leisure activity. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".^[28] The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that up to 500,000 people are in flight at any one time.^[29]

Modern aviation has made it possible to travel long distances quickly.

In 2010, international tourism reached US$919B, growing 6.5% over 2009, corresponding to an increase in real terms of 4.7%.^[30] In 2010, there were over 940 million international tourist arrivals worldwide.^[31] By 2016 that number had risen to 1,235 million, producing 1,220 billion USD in destination spending.^[32] The COVID-19 crisis had significant negative effects on international tourism significantly slowing the overall increasing trend.

International tourism has significant impacts on the environment, exacerbated in part by the problems created by air travel but also by other issues, including wealthy tourists bringing lifestyles that stress local infrastructure, water and trash systems among others.

Basis[]

The economic foundations of tourism are essentially the cultural assets, the cultural property and the nature of the travel location. The World Heritage Sites are particularly worth mentioning today because they are real tourism magnets. But even a country's current or former form of government can be decisive for tourism. For example, the fascination of the British royal family brings millions of tourists to Great Britain every year and thus the economy around £550 million a year. The Habsburg family can be mentioned in Central Europe. According to estimates, the Habsburg brand should generate tourism sales of 60 million euros per year for Vienna alone. The tourist principle "Habsburg sells" applies.^[33][34]

History[]

1922 postcard of tourists in the High Tatras, Slovakia

Antiquity[]

Barcola, a holiday resort in antiquity as well as in the 19th century with the Miramare Castle and later

Travel outside a person's local area for leisure was largely confined to wealthy classes, who at times travelled to distant parts of the world, to see great buildings and works of art, learn new languages, experience new cultures, enjoy pristine nature and to taste different cuisines. As early as Shulgi, however, kings praised themselves for protecting roads and building way stations for travellers.^[35] Travelling for pleasure can be seen in Egypt as early on as 1500 BC.^[36] During the Roman Republic, spas and coastal resorts such as Baiae were popular among the rich. The Roman upper class used to spend their free time on land or at sea and travelled to their villa urbana or villa maritima. Numerous villas were located in Campania, around Rome and in the northern part of the Adriatic as in Barcola near Trieste. Pausanias wrote his Description of Greece in the second century AD. In ancient China, nobles sometimes made a point of visiting Mount Tai and, on occasion, all five Sacred Mountains.

Middle Ages[]

By the Middle Ages, Christianity and Buddhism and Islam had traditions of pilgrimage. Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and Wu Cheng'en's Journey to the West remain classics of English and Chinese literature.

A Japanese tourist consulting a tour guide and a guide book from Akizato Ritō's Miyako meisho zue (1787)

The 10th- to 13th-century Song dynasty also saw secular travel writers such as Su Shi (11th century) and Fan Chengda (12th century) become popular in China. Under the Ming, Xu Xiake continued the practice.^[37] In medieval Italy, Francesco Petrarch also wrote an allegorical account of his 1336 ascent of Mount Ventoux that praised the act of travelling and criticized frigida incuriositas ('cold lack of curiosity'). The Burgundian poet  [fr] later composed his own horrified recollections of a 1430 trip through the Jura Mountains.^[38]

Grand Tour[]

Prince Ladislaus Sigismund of Poland visiting Gallery of Cornelis van der Geest in Brussels in 1624

Modern tourism can be traced to what was known as the Grand Tour, which was a traditional trip around Europe (especially Germany and Italy), undertaken by mainly upper-class European young men of means, mainly from Western and Northern European countries. In 1624, the young Prince of Poland, Ladislaus Sigismund Vasa, the eldest son of Sigismund III, embarked on a journey across Europe, as was in custom among Polish nobility.^[39] He travelled through territories of today's Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, where he admired the Siege of Breda by Spanish forces, France, Switzerland to Italy, Austria, and the Czech Republic.^[39] It was an educational journey^[40] and one of the outcomes was introduction of Italian opera in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.^[41]

The custom flourished from about 1660 until the advent of large-scale rail transit in the 1840s and generally followed a standard itinerary. It was an educational opportunity and rite of passage. Though primarily associated with the British nobility and wealthy landed gentry, similar trips were made by wealthy young men of Protestant Northern European nations on the Continent, and from the second half of the 18th century some South American, US, and other overseas youth joined in. The tradition was extended to include more of the middle class after rail and steamship travel made the journey easier, and Thomas Cook made the "Cook's Tour" a byword.

The Grand Tour became a real status symbol for upper-class students in the 18th and 19th centuries. In this period, Johann Joachim Winckelmann's theories about the supremacy of classic culture became very popular and appreciated in the European academic world. Artists, writers, and travellers (such as Goethe) affirmed the supremacy of classic art of which Italy, France, and Greece provide excellent examples. For these reasons, the Grand Tour's main destinations were to those centers, where upper-class students could find rare examples of classic art and history.

The New York Times recently described the Grand Tour in this way:

Three hundred years ago, wealthy young Englishmen began taking a post-Oxbridge trek through France and Italy in search of art, culture and the roots of Western civilization. With nearly unlimited funds, aristocratic connections and months (or years) to roam, they commissioned paintings, perfected their language skills and mingled with the upper crust of the Continent.

— Gross, Matt., Lessons From the Frugal Grand Tour." New York Times 5 September 2008.

The primary value of the Grand Tour, it was believed, laid in the exposure both to the cultural legacy of classical antiquity and the Renaissance, and to the aristocratic and fashionably polite society of the European continent.

Emergence of leisure travel[]

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Englishman in the Campagna by Carl Spitzweg (c. 1845)

Leisure travel was associated with the Industrial Revolution in the United Kingdom – the first European country to promote leisure time to the increasing industrial population.^[42] Initially, this applied to the owners of the machinery of production, the economic oligarchy, factory owners and traders. These comprised the new middle class.^[42] Cox & Kings was the first official travel company to be formed in 1758.^[43]

The British origin of this new industry is reflected in many place names. In Nice, France, one of the first and best-established holiday resorts on the French Riviera, the long esplanade along the seafront is known to this day as the Promenade des Anglais; in many other historic resorts in continental Europe, old, well-established palace hotels have names like the Hotel Bristol, Hotel Carlton, or Hotel Majestic – reflecting the dominance of English customers.

Panels from the Thomas Cook Building in Leicester, displaying excursions offered by Thomas Cook

Leicester railway station – built-in 1894 to replace, largely on the same site, Campbell Street station, the origin for many of Cook's early tours

A pioneer of the travel agency business, Thomas Cook's idea to offer excursions came to him while waiting for the stagecoach on the London Road at Kibworth. With the opening of the extended Midland Counties Railway, he arranged to take a group of 540 temperance campaigners from Leicester Campbell Street station to a rally in Loughborough, eleven miles (18 km) away. On 5 July 1841, Thomas Cook arranged for the rail company to charge one shilling per person; this included rail tickets and food for the journey. Cook was paid a share of the fares charged to the passengers, as the railway tickets, being legal contracts between company and passenger, could not have been issued at his own price.^{[clarification needed]} This was the first privately chartered excursion train to be advertised to the general public; Cook himself acknowledged that there had been previous, unadvertised, private excursion trains.^[44] During the following three summers he planned and conducted outings for temperance societies and Sunday school children. In 1844, the Midland Counties Railway Company agreed to make a permanent arrangement with him, provided he found the passengers. This success led him to start his own business running rail excursions for pleasure, taking a percentage of the railway fares.^[45]

In 1855, he planned his first excursion abroad, when he took a group from Leicester to Calais to coincide with the Paris Exhibition. The following year he started his "grand circular tours" of Europe.^[46] During the 1860s he took parties to Switzerland, Italy, Egypt, and the United States. Cook established "inclusive independent travel", whereby the traveller went independently but his agency charged for travel, food, and accommodation for a fixed period over any chosen route. Such was his success that the Scottish railway companies withdrew their support between 1862 and 1863 to try the excursion business for themselves.

Significance of tourism[]

Strandkorb chairs on Usedom Island, Germany. Not only does the service sector grow because of tourism, but also local manufacturers (like those producing the strandkorb chairs), retailers, the real-estate sector and the general image of a location can benefit as well.

Drawa National Park in Poland, famous for its canoeing routes

Durban is well known for its beachfront and "Golden Mile" promenade.

Tourist buying handicrafts in Namibia, an important source of income for some tourist destinations

The tourism industry, as part of the service sector,^[47] has become an important source of income for many regions and even for entire countries. The Manila Declaration on World Tourism of 1980 recognized its importance as "an activity essential to the life of nations because of its direct effects on the social, cultural, educational, and economic sectors of national societies, and on their international relations."^[3][48]

Tourism brings large amounts of income into a local economy in the form of payment for goods and services needed by tourists, accounting as of 2011 for 30% of the world's trade in services, and, as an invisible export, for 6% of overall exports of goods and services.^[7] It also generates opportunities for employment in the service sector of the economy associated with tourism.^[49] It is also claimed that travel broadens the mind.^[50][51]

The hospitality industries which benefit from tourism include transportation services (such as airlines, cruise ships, trains and taxicabs); lodging (including hotels, hostels, homestays, resorts and renting out rooms); and entertainment venues (such as amusement parks, restaurants, casinos, shopping malls, music venues, and theatres). This is in addition to goods bought by tourists, including souvenirs.

On the flip-side, tourism can degrade people^[52] and sour relationships between host and guest.^[53]

The economic foundations of tourism are essentially the cultural assets, the cultural property and the nature of the travel location. The World Heritage Sites are particularly worth mentioning today because they are real tourism magnets. But even a country's current or former form of government can be decisive for tourism. For example, the fascination of the British royal family brings millions of tourists to Great Britain every year and thus the economy around £550 million a year. The Habsburg family can be mentioned in Central Europe. According to estimates, the Habsburg brand should generate tourism sales of 60 million euros per year for Vienna alone. The tourist principle "Habsburg sells" applies.^[54][55]

Tourism, cultural heritage and UNESCO[]

Blue Shield Fact Finding Mission in Egypt

Cultural and natural heritage are in many cases the absolute basis for worldwide tourism. Cultural tourism is one of the megatrends that is reflected in massive numbers of overnight stays and sales. As UNESCO is increasingly observing, the cultural heritage is needed for tourism, but also endangered by it. The "ICOMOS - International Cultural Tourism Charter" from 1999 is already dealing with all of these problems. As a result of the tourist hazard, for example, the Lascaux cave was rebuilt for tourists. Overtourism is an important buzzword in this area. Furthermore, the focus of UNESCO in war zones is to ensure the protection of cultural heritage in order to maintain this future important economic basis for the local population. And there is intensive cooperation between UNESCO, the United Nations, the United Nations peacekeeping and Blue Shield International. There are extensive international and national considerations, studies and programs to protect cultural assets from the effects of tourism and those from war. In particular, it is also about training civilian and military personnel. But the involvement of the locals is particularly important. The founding president of Blue Shield International Karl von Habsburg summed it up with the words: “Without the local community and without the local participants, that would be completely impossible”.^{[56][57][58][59]}

Cruise shipping[]

Prinzessin Victoria Luise, the first cruise ship of the world, launched in June 1900 in Hamburg (Germany)

Cruising is a popular form of water tourism. Leisure cruise ships were introduced by the Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company (P&O) in 1844, sailing from Southampton to destinations such as Gibraltar, Malta and Athens.^[60] In 1891, German businessman Albert Ballin sailed the ship Augusta Victoria from Hamburg into the Mediterranean Sea. 29 June 1900 saw the launching of the first purpose-built cruise ship was Prinzessin Victoria Luise, built in Hamburg for the Hamburg America Line.^[61]

Modern day tourism[]

Many leisure-oriented tourists travel to seaside resorts on their nearest coast or further afield. Coastal areas in the tropics are popular in both summer and winter.

Mass tourism[]

Reisepläne (Travel plans) by Adolph Menzel (1875)

Mass tourism at the Trevi Fountain in Rome, Italy

Tourists at the Mediterranean Coast of Barcelona, 2007

Academics have defined mass tourism as travel by groups on pre-scheduled tours, usually under the organization of tourism professionals.^[62] This form of tourism developed during the second half of the 19th century in the United Kingdom and was pioneered by Thomas Cook. Cook took advantage of Europe's rapidly expanding railway network and established a company that offered affordable day trip excursions to the masses, in addition to longer holidays to Continental Europe, India, Asia and the Western Hemisphere which attracted wealthier customers. By the 1890s over 20,000 tourists per year used Thomas Cook & Son.^[63]

The relationship between tourism companies, transportation operators and hotels is a central feature of mass tourism. Cook was able to offer prices that were below the publicly advertised price because his company purchased large numbers of tickets from railroads.^[63] One contemporary form of mass tourism, package tourism, still incorporates the partnership between these three groups.

Travel developed during the early 20th century and was facilitated by the development of the automobiles and later by airplanes. Improvements in transport allowed many people to travel quickly to places of leisure interest so that more people could begin to enjoy the benefits of leisure time.

In Continental Europe, early seaside resorts included: Heiligendamm, founded in 1793 at the Baltic Sea, being the first seaside resort; Ostend, popularised by the people of Brussels; Boulogne-sur-Mer and Deauville for the Parisians; Taormina in Sicily. In the United States, the first seaside resorts in the European style were at Atlantic City, New Jersey and Long Island, New York.

By the mid-20th century, the Mediterranean Coast became the principal mass tourism destination. The 1960s and 1970s saw mass tourism play a major role in the Spanish economic "miracle".

Niche tourism[]

The Sanctuary of Christ the King, in Almada, has become one of the places most visited for religious tourism.

Niche tourism refers to the numerous specialty forms of tourism that have emerged over the years, each with its own adjective. Many of these terms have come into common use by the tourism industry and academics.^[64] Others are emerging concepts that may or may not gain popular usage. Examples of the more common niche tourism markets are:

Other terms used for niche or specialty travel forms include the term "destination" in the descriptions, such as destination weddings, and terms such as location vacation.

Winter tourism[]

An example of a tourist destination in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee

The Santa Claus Village at the Arctic Circle in Rovaniemi, Finland is one of the significant tourist places in the Northern Europe.^[65]

St. Moritz, Switzerland became the cradle of the developing winter tourism in the 1860s: hotel manager Johannes Badrutt invited some summer guests from England to return in the winter to see the snowy landscape, thereby inaugurating a popular trend.^[66][67] It was, however, only in the 1970s when winter tourism took over the lead from summer tourism in many of the Swiss ski resorts. Even in winter, up to one third of all guests (depending on the location) consist of non-skiers.^[68]

Major ski resorts are located mostly in the various European countries (e.g. Andorra, Austria, Bulgaria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Norway, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Sweden, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey), Canada, the United States (e.g. Montana, Utah, Colorado, California, Wyoming, Vermont, New Hampshire, New York) Argentina, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Chile, and Lebanon.

Recent developments[]

A destination hotel in Germany: Yacht Harbour Residence in Rostock, Mecklenburg

Nazaré, Portugal, is now listed in the Guinness World Records for the biggest waves ever surfed, and has become a worldwide tourist attraction.

There has been an up-trend in tourism over the last few decades,^[vague] especially in Europe, where international travel for short breaks is common. Tourists have a wide range of budgets and tastes, and a wide variety of resorts and hotels have developed to cater for them. For example, some people prefer simple beach vacations, while others want more specialized holidays, quieter resorts, family-oriented holidays, or niche market-targeted destination hotels.

The developments in air transport infrastructure, such as jumbo jets, low-cost airlines, and more accessible airports have made many types of tourism more affordable. A major factor in the relatively low cost of air travel is the tax exemption for aviation fuels. The WHO estimated in 2009 that there are around half a million people on board aircraft at any given time.^[69] There have also been changes in lifestyle, for example, some retirement-age people sustain year-round tourism. This is facilitated by internet sales of tourist services. Some sites have now started to offer dynamic packaging, in which an inclusive price is quoted for a tailor-made package requested by the customer upon impulse.

There have been a few setbacks in tourism, such as the September 11 attacks and terrorist threats to tourist destinations, such as in Bali and several European cities. Also, on 26 December 2004, a tsunami, caused by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, hit the Asian countries on the Indian Ocean, including the Maldives. Thousands of lives were lost including many tourists. This, together with the vast clean-up operations, stopped or severely hampered tourism in the area for a time.^[70]

Individual low-price or even zero-price overnight stays have become more popular in the 2000s, especially with a strong growth in the hostel market and services like CouchSurfing and airbnb being established.^[71] There has also been examples of jurisdictions wherein a significant portion of GDP is being spent on altering the primary sources of revenue towards tourism, as has occurred for instance in Dubai.^[72]

Sustainable tourism[]

This section is an excerpt from Sustainable tourism.[]

2001 Royal Clipper Karibik can use sail power which reduces pollution

Sustainable tourism is tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts while addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment and host communities.^[73] Tourism can be related to travel for leisure, business and visiting friends and relatives^[74] and can also include means of transportation related to tourism. This might be transportation to the general location as well as local transportation to and from accommodations, entertainment, recreation, nourishment and shopping. There is now broad consensus that tourism should be sustainable.^[75][76] In fact, all forms of tourism have the potential to be sustainable if planned, developed and managed properly.^[77]

Global tourism accounts for about eight percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. This percentage takes into account airline transportation^[78] as well as other significant environmental and social impacts that are not always beneficial to local communities and their economies.

Tourist development organizations are promoting sustainable tourism practices in order to mitigate negative effects caused by the growing impact of tourism. The United Nations World Tourism Organization emphasized these practices by promoting tourism as part of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), through programs like the International Year for Sustainable Tourism for Development in 2017.^[79] There is a direct link between sustainable tourism and all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).^[77] Tourism for SDGs focuses on how SDG 8, SDG 12 and SDG 14 implicate tourism in creating a sustainable economy.^[80]

Challenges related to sustainable tourism are many. The displacement or resettlement of local communities results when areas are made accessible to tourists. Construction projects to build new roads and housing for tourists, even if only campsites, also disrupts the natural world and local environment. The covid-19 pandemic challenge resulted in a 65% decrease in international tourist numbers in the first half of 2020 as compared to 2019.^[81]

Ecotourism[]

Ecotourism, also known as ecological tourism, is responsible travel to fragile, pristine, and usually protected areas that strives to be low-impact and (often) small-scale. It helps educate the traveller; provides funds for conservation; directly benefits the economic development and political empowerment of local communities, and fosters respect for different cultures and for human rights.Take only memories and leave only footprints is a very common slogan in protected areas.^[82] Tourist destinations are shifting to low carbon emissions following the trend of visitors more focused in being environmentally responsible adopting a sustainable behavior.^[83]

Volunteer tourism[]

Volunteer tourism (or voluntourism) is growing as a largely Western phenomenon, with volunteers travelling to aid those less fortunate than themselves in order to counter global inequalities. Wearing (2001) defines volunteer tourism as applying "to those tourists who, for various reasons, volunteer in an organised way to undertake holidays that might involve aiding or alleviating the material poverty of some groups in society".^[84] VSO was founded in the UK in 1958 and the US Peace Corps was subsequently founded in 1960. These were the first large scale voluntary sending organisations, initially arising to modernise less economically developed countries, which it was hoped would curb the influence of communism.^[85]

This form of tourism is largely praised for its more sustainable approach to travel, with tourists attempting to assimilate into local cultures, and avoiding the criticisms of consumptive and exploitative mass tourism.^[86] However, increasingly, voluntourism is being criticised by scholars who suggest it may have negative effects as it begins to undermine local labour, and force unwilling host communities to adopt Western initiatives,^[87] while host communities without a strong heritage fail to retain volunteers who become dissatisfied with experiences and volunteer shortages persist.^[88] Increasingly, organisations such as VSO have been concerned with community-centric volunteer programmes where power to control the future of the community is in the hands of local people.^[89]

Pro-poor tourism[]

Play media

Community tourism in Sierra Leone → The story of a community in Sierra Leone trying to manage tourism in a responsible manner Playlist

Pro-poor tourism, which seeks to help the poorest people in developing countries, has been receiving increasing attention by those involved in development; the issue has been addressed through small-scale projects in local communities and through attempts by Ministries of Tourism to attract large numbers of tourists.^[90] Research by the Overseas Development Institute suggests that neither is the best way to encourage tourists' money to reach the poorest as only 25% or less (far less in some cases) ever reaches the poor; successful examples of money reaching the poor include mountain-climbing in Tanzania and cultural tourism in Luang Prabang, Laos.^[91] There is also the possibility of pro-poor tourism principles being adopted in centre sites of regeneration in the developed world.^[92]

Recession tourism[]

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Recession tourism is a travel trend which evolved by way of the world economic crisis. Recession tourism is defined by low-cost and high-value experiences taking place at once-popular generic retreats. Various recession tourism hotspots have seen business boom during the recession thanks to comparatively low costs of living and a slow world job market suggesting travellers are elongating trips where their money travels further. This concept is not widely used in tourism research. It is related to the short-lived phenomenon that is more widely known as staycation.

Medical tourism[]

When there is a significant price difference between countries for a given medical procedure, particularly in Southeast Asia, India, Eastern Europe, Cuba^[93] and Canada^[94] where there are different regulatory regimes, in relation to particular medical procedures (e.g. dentistry), travelling to take advantage of the price or regulatory differences is often referred to as "medical tourism".

Educational tourism[]

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Educational tourism is developed because of the growing popularity of teaching and learning of knowledge and the enhancing of technical competency outside of the classroom environment. In educational tourism, the main focus of the tour or leisure activity includes visiting another country to learn about the culture, study tours, or to work and apply skills learned inside the classroom in a different environment, such as in the International Practicum Training Program.^[95]

Event tourism[]

This type of tourism is focused on tourists coming into a region to either participate in an event or to see an organized event put on by the city/region.^[96] This type of tourism can also fall under sustainable tourism as well and companies that create a sustainable event to attend open up a chance to not only the consumer but their workers to learn and develop from the experience. Creating a sustainable atmosphere creates a chance to inform and encourage sustainable practices. An example of event tourism would be the music festival South by Southwest that is hosted in Austin, Texas annually. Every year people from all over the world flock to the city for one week to sit in on technology talks and see bands perform. People are drawn here to experience something that they are not able to experience in their hometown, which defines event tourism.

Creative tourism[]

Friendship Force visitors from Indonesia meeting their hosts in Hartwell, Georgia, United States

Creative tourism has existed as a form of cultural tourism, since the early beginnings of tourism itself. Its European roots date back to the time of the Grand Tour, which saw the sons of aristocratic families travelling for the purpose of mostly interactive, educational experiences. More recently, creative tourism has been given its own name by Crispin Raymond and Greg Richards,^[97] who as members of the Association for Tourism and Leisure Education (ATLAS), have directed a number of projects for the European Commission, including cultural and crafts tourism, known as sustainable tourism. They have defined "creative tourism" as tourism related to the active participation of travellers in the culture of the host community, through interactive workshops and informal learning experiences.^[97]

Meanwhile, the concept of creative tourism has been picked up by high-profile organizations such as UNESCO, who through the Creative Cities Network, have endorsed creative tourism as an engaged, authentic experience that promotes an active understanding of the specific cultural features of a place. UNESCO wrote in one of its documents: "'Creative Tourism' involves more interaction, in which the visitor has an educational, emotional, social, and participative interaction with the place, its living culture, and the people who live there. They feel like a citizen."^[98] Saying so, the tourist will have the opportunity to take part in workshops, classes and activities related to the culture of the destination.

A tourism conference underway

More recently, creative tourism has gained popularity as a form of cultural tourism, drawing on active participation by travellers in the culture of the host communities they visit. Several countries offer examples of this type of tourism development, including the United Kingdom, Austria, France, the Bahamas, Jamaica, Spain, Italy, New Zealand and South Korea.^{[99][citation needed]}

The growing interest of tourists^[100] in this new way to discover a culture regards particularly the operators and branding managers, attentive to the possibility of attracting a quality tourism, highlighting the intangible heritage (craft workshops, cooking classes, etc.) and optimizing the use of existing infrastructure (for example, through the rent of halls and auditoriums).

Experiential tourism[]

Experiential travel (or "immersion travel") is one of the major market trends in the modern tourism industry. It is an approach to travelling which focuses on experiencing a country, city or particular place by connecting to its history, people, food and culture.^[101]

The term "experiential travel" has been mentioned in publications since 1985,^[102] but it was not discovered as a meaningful market trend until much later.

Dark tourism[]

The Skull Chapel in Kudowa-Zdrój, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, Poland, is an example of an attraction for dark tourism. Its interior walls, ceiling and foundations are adorned by human remains. It is the only such monument in Poland, and one of six in Europe.

One emerging area of special interest has been identified by Lennon and Foley (2000)^[103][104] as "dark" tourism. This type of tourism involves visits to "dark" sites, such as battlegrounds, scenes of horrific crimes or acts of genocide, for example concentration camps. Its origins are rooted in fairgrounds and medieval fairs.^[105]

Philip Stone argues that dark tourism is a way of imagining one's own death through the real death of others.^[106] introduces the term "" to evidence the educational character of dark tourism. Popular sites transmit the story of victimized people to visitors. Based on a study at Yad Vashem, the Shoah (Holocaust) memorial museum in Jerusalem, a new term—in populo—is proposed to describe dark tourism sites at a spiritual and population center of the people to whom a tragedy befell. Learning about the Shoah in Jerusalem offers an encounter with the subject which is different from visits to sites in Europe, but equally authentic. It is argued that a dichotomy between "authentic" sites at the location of a tragedy and "created" sites elsewhere is insufficient. Participants' evaluations of seminars for European teachers at Yad Vashem indicate that the location is an important aspect of a meaningful encounter with the subject. Implications for other cases of dark tourism at in populo locations are discussed.^[107] In this vein, Peter Tarlow defines dark tourism as the tendency to visit the scenes of tragedies or historically noteworthy deaths, which continue to impact our lives. This issue cannot be understood without the figure of trauma.^[108]

Social tourism[]

Social tourism is making tourism available to poor people who otherwise could not afford to travel for their education or recreation. It includes youth hostels and low-priced holiday accommodation run by church and voluntary organisations, trade unions, or in Communist times publicly owned enterprises. In May 1959, at the second Congress of Social Tourism in Austria, Walter Hunziker proposed the following definition: "Social tourism is a type of tourism practiced by low-income groups, and which is rendered possible and facilitated by entirely separate and therefore easily recognizable services".^[109]

Doom tourism[]

Perito Moreno Glacier, Patagonia, Argentina

Also known as "tourism of doom," or "last chance tourism", this emerging trend involves travelling to places that are environmentally or otherwise threatened (such as the ice caps of Mount Kilimanjaro, the melting glaciers of Patagonia, or the coral of the Great Barrier Reef) before it is too late. Identified by travel trade magazine ^[110] editor-in-chief Kenneth Shapiro in 2007 and later explored in The New York Times,^[111] this type of tourism is believed to be on the rise. Some see the trend as related to sustainable tourism or ecotourism due to the fact that a number of these tourist destinations are considered threatened by environmental factors such as global warming, overpopulation or climate change. Others worry that travel to many of these threatened locations increases an individual's carbon footprint and only hastens problems threatened locations are already facing.^{[112][113][114][115][116]}

Religious tourism[]

St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, the papal enclave within the Italian city of Rome, one of the largest religious tourism sites in the world

Religious tourism, in particular pilgrimage, can serve to strengthen faith and to demonstrate devotion – both of which are central tenets of many major religions.^{[117][need quotation to verify]} Religious tourists may seek destinations whose image encourages them to believe that they can strengthen the religious elements of their self-identity in a positive manner. Given this, the perceived image of a destination may be positively influenced by whether it conforms to the requirements of their religious self-identity or not.^[118]

DNA tourism[]

DNA tourism, also called "ancestry tourism" or "heritage travel", is tourism based on DNA testing. These tourists visit their remote relatives or places where their ancestors came from, or where their relatives reside, based on the results of DNA tests. DNA testing became a growing trend in 2019.^[119][120]

Impacts[]

This section is an excerpt from Impacts of tourism.[]

Impacts of tourism

Tourism brings both positive and negative impacts on tourist destinations. The traditionally-described domains of tourism impacts are economic, socio-cultural, and environmental dimensions.^[121][122] The economic effects of tourism include improved tax revenue and personal income, increased standards of living, and more employment opportunities.^[123][124] Sociocultural impacts are associated with interactions between people with differing cultural backgrounds, attitudes and behaviors, and relationships to material goods.^[125] Environmental impacts affect the carrying capacity of the area, vegetation, air quality, bodies of water, the water table, wildlife, and natural phenomena.

At the same time, tourism also brings positive and negative health outcomes for local people.^[126] The short-term negative impacts of tourism on residents' health are related to the density of tourist's arrivals, risk of disease transmission, road accidents, higher crime levels, as well as traffic congestion, crowding, and other stressful factors.^[127] In addition, residents can experience anxiety and depression related to their risk perceptions about mortality rates, food insecurity, contact with infected tourists, etc., which can result in negative mental health outcomes.^[128] At the same time, there are positive long-term impacts of tourism on residents’ health and well-being outcomes through improving healthcare access positive emotions, novelty, and social interactions.^[126]

Tourism fatigue[]

Excessive hordes of visitors (or of the wrong sort of visitors) can provoke backlashes from otherwise friendly hosts in popular destinations.^[129]

Negative environmental consequences[]

Negative environmental consequences related to tourism activities, such as greenhouse gas emissions from air travel, and litter at popular locations, can be significant.^[130]

Illegal activities[]

Tourism is sometimes associated with export or theft of contraband such as endangered species or certain cultural artifacts, and illegal sex trade activities.^[131][132]

Anti-tourism sentiment and mobilization[]

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In recent years,^[when?] the local population in many areas has developed anti-tourism sentiment and begun to protest against tourists. One of the most prominent examples of such a mobilization was the so-called "Tourists go home" movement, which emerged in 2014 in Spain due to slogans and mottos calling the tourists to go back to their homes.^[133] Venice also faced such problems, and the "Tourists go home" slogans appeared on the walls of the city.^[134] Moreover, several other countries, such as Japan and the Philippines, are having problems with overtourism.^[135][136]

The year 2017 seems to be a landmark for anti-tourism sentiment as "a new Spanish social movement against an economic development model based on mass tourism gained following high-profile attacks targeting foreign tourists and local business interests."^[137] Anti-tourism sentiment also seems to be linked to a clash of identity and people's individualism.^[138]

Growth[]

The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) forecasts that international tourism will continue growing at the average annual rate of 4%.^[139] With the advent of e-commerce, tourism products have become prominent traded items on the internet.^[140][141] Tourism products and services have been made available through intermediaries, although tourism providers (hotels, airlines, etc.), including small-scale operators, can sell their services directly.^[142][143] This has put pressure on intermediaries from both on-line and traditional shops.

It has been suggested there is a strong correlation between tourism expenditure per capita and the degree to which countries play in the global context.^[144] Not only as a result of the important economic contribution of the tourism industry, but also as an indicator of the degree of confidence with which global citizens leverage the resources of the globe for the benefit of their local economies. This is why any projections of growth in tourism may serve as an indication of the relative influence that each country will exercise in the future.

SpaceShipTwo, a major project in space tourism

Space tourism[]

There has been a limited amount of orbital space tourism, with only the Russian Space Agency providing transport to date. A 2010 report into space tourism anticipated that it could become a billion-dollar market by 2030.^[145][146]

Sports tourism[]

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Since the late 1980s, sports tourism has become increasingly popular. Events such as rugby, Olympics, Commonwealth Games, and FIFA World Cups have enabled specialist travel companies to gain official ticket allocation and then sell them in packages that include flights, hotels and excursions.

Tourism security[]

Tourism security is a subdiscipline of tourist studies that explores the factors that affect the ontological security of tourists. Risks are evaluated by their impact and nature.^[147] Tourism security includes methodologies, theories and techniques oriented to protect the organic image of tourist destinations.^[148] Three academic waves are significant in tourism security: risk perception theory, disaster management, and post-disaster consumption^[149]

Trends since 2000[]

Cultural tourism: tourists outside a Geghard monastery in Armenia, 2015

As a result of the late-2000s recession, international arrivals experienced a strong slowdown beginning in June 2008. Growth from 2007 to 2008 was only 3.7% during the first eight months of 2008. This slowdown on international tourism demand was also reflected in the air transport industry, with negative growth in September 2008 and a 3.3% growth in passenger traffic through September. The hotel industry also reported a slowdown, with room occupancy declining. In 2009 worldwide tourism arrivals decreased by 3.8%.^[150] By the first quarter of 2009, real travel demand in the United States had fallen 6% over six quarters. While this is considerably milder than what occurred after the 9/11 attacks, the decline was at twice the rate, as real GDP has fallen.^[151][152]

In 2020 the COVID-19 pandemic lock-downs, travel bans and a substantial reduction in passenger travel by air and sea contributed to a sharp decline in tourism activity.^[153]

However, evidence suggests that tourism as a global phenomenon shows no signs of substantially abating in the long term.^[154] Many^[quantify] people increasingly view vacations and travel as a necessity rather than a luxury, and this is reflected in tourist numbers recovering^[when?] some 6.6% globally over 2009, with growth up to 8% in emerging economies.^[150]

See also[]

References[]

Bibliography[]

Further reading[]

• Holder IV, Floyd William (2009). An Empirical Analysis of the State's Monopolization of the Legitimate Means of Movement: Evaluating the Effects of Required Passport use on International Travel (M.P.A. thesis). Texas State University-San Marcos. OCLC 564144593. Docket Applied Research Projects. Paper 308.
• Wilkerson, Chad (2003). "Travel and Tourism: An Overlooked Industry in the U.S. and Tenth District" (PDF). Economic Review. 88 (Third Quarter): 45–72. ISSN 0161-2387. OCLC 295437935. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 January 2011. Retrieved 31 October 2007.
• Antje Monshausen, Sustainable and development friendly In: D+C Vol.42.2015:4
• Mass Tourism vs. Alternative Tourism

External links[]

• Recreation and Leisure Studies at Curlie