What is Tourism?

Summary

Tourism, a global phenomenon and the world's largest industry, involves people traveling to places outside their usual environment for less than a year, primarily for leisure rather than employment. It's a complex social, cultural, and economic activity that raises key questions about who travels, where, why, when, and how. The script explores defining tourism by duration, distance, and purpose, distinguishing it from other travel forms and emphasizing the ongoing discussion about its meaning.

Takeaways

• 🌐 Tourism is considered the world's biggest industry by some measures, employing a significant portion of the global workforce.
• 🧳 The concept of tourism involves people visiting places outside their usual environment, encompassing social, cultural, and economic aspects.
• 📚 As a field of study, tourism focuses on key questions such as who travels, where, why, when, and how.
• 🔍 Defining tourism can be challenging, with various definitions serving different purposes, but all agree it involves travel.
• 🕰 The temporal requirement for tourism is that trips must be shorter than one year to be considered as such.
• 📍 The spatial requirement distinguishes tourism by requiring travel beyond the traveler's usual environment, excluding local routine travel.
• 🎯 The motivational requirement specifies that the main purpose of tourism should not be seeking employment at the visited place, differentiating it from permanent migration.
• 🌍 Travel is a broader category that includes all movements of people between geographical locations for any duration, distance, or purpose.
• 📝 A formal definition of tourism describes it as activities of people traveling and staying outside their usual environment for up to one year for non-employment purposes.
• 🤔 The meaning of tourism and related concepts is subject to continuous discussion due to varying perspectives and the utility of different definitions.
• 💬 The script invites viewers to join in the discussion about the meaning of tourism on their website, whatistourism.com.

Q & A

What is the significance of tourism in the global economy according to the script?

According to the script, tourism is considered the world's biggest industry by some accounts and employs up to 10% of the world's workforce.

How is tourism defined in the simplest terms in the script?

In the simplest terms, tourism is what people do when they visit a place outside their usual environment.

What are the key questions that the field of study of tourism is concerned with?

The field of study of tourism is concerned with who travels, where they travel, why they travel, when they travel, and how they travel.

What are the three criteria used to distinguish tourism from other forms of travel?

The three criteria are duration (the trip must be shorter than one year), distance (the trip must extend beyond the traveler's usual environment), and purpose (the main purpose should not be to seek employment at the place visited).

What is the temporal requirement for a trip to be considered tourism?

The temporal requirement states that for a trip to be considered tourism, it must be shorter than one year to exclude stays of a more permanent nature.

What is the spatial requirement in the context of defining tourism?

The spatial requirement stipulates that a trip must extend beyond the traveler's usual environment to distinguish between tourists and locals.

What is the motivational requirement for a trip to qualify as tourism?

The motivational requirement specifies that the main purpose of the trip should not be to seek employment at the place visited, distinguishing tourism from more permanent forms of migration.

What is the broader category that tourism is considered a sub-category of, as mentioned in the script?

Tourism is considered a sub-category of travel, which includes all movement of people between geographical locations for any duration, distance, or purpose.

What is the more formal definition of tourism provided in the script?

The formal definition of tourism in the script is the activities of people traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for purposes other than seeking employment.

Why is there a continuous discussion about the meaning of the term 'tourism'?

There is a continuous discussion about the meaning of 'tourism' because different people have different perspectives, and different definitions may serve different purposes.

How is the website mentioned in the script related to the topic of tourism?

The website 'whatistourism.com' is mentioned as a platform where the discussion about the meaning of tourism and its related concepts is encouraged, inviting viewers to join the conversation.