Understanding Tourism Basics
Understanding Tourism Basics
Structure
1.0 Objectives
1.1 Introduction
I
1.2 Tourism Phenomenon ,
1.3 What is Tourism?
1.4 Concepis
1.4.1 D e f i Tourism
1.42 Tourism Roducts and Services
1.4.3 Tours
1.4.4 Tourists
1.4.5 The Tourist Destination
1.5 Tourism: Foxms and Types
1.6 Future Trends
1.7 Let Us Sum Up
1.8 Keywoads
1.9 Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises
1.0 OBJECTIVES
1 . INTRODUCTION
Tourism and tourist are words which are commonly heard or mentioned in everyday life.
Pick up any newspaper and you will find some reference to tsslrism i.e. in relation to
government policy, tourist arrivals, products, destination, impact on economy, hostility or
hospitality of the local peaple etc. But how often have you attempted to understand the
meaning of tourism or asked the question who b a tourist? Well, this Unit attempts to
defm for you the words "twrisrn"and "curist'*- both technically as well as
conceptually. Then it goes on to cornpmhend the concepis related to towism and its
characteristics. It also takes into account the different forms and types of tourism along
with explaining to you the terms like tourist destination and tourist product, etc. A
knowledge of these aspects is a must for a tourism p d e s h n a l as well as for any one *
interested in pursuing Tourism Studies.
Tourism is con- with pleame, holidays, kvel and going or arriving somewhere.
Thege are the motivations that makc people leave their "normal" place of work and
residence for tkt-term tempmay visits to *'ot+r" placed
Tomism is concerned with consuming goods and services. For example, you need &me
mode of transport, soma form of accommodation to stay and so on. HoweSer, the only
reason for the consumption of such services and goods is that we have a pleasurable
expedieme or that we enjoy ourselves. A part of the enjoyment is in the fact that thew
goods and s m c e s are different from what we typically consume everyday. Another
aspect of our enjoyment is that we:
lo& at a set of different landscapes, cultures and life styles, and
see M e a t people and hear other languages, etc.
Bwrmm we are "going away" what we look at and experience becomes something out
of the 02-mething unique. In fact, we do anticipate the new experience and this
lq&s u9 ta daw it wirh gmatm interest and curiosity. However, few of us realise that in
the" of this pleasant experience many professionals and experts help to
develop aad construct our viewing. How this experience has changed and developed
depends on a variety offactors like which:
a historic period we are looking at,
social groups we belong to,
miety we live in.
The tuwist grazt is, therefore, based on a "difference" i.e. the difference between the
pmtfce of-tmuim and other non-tourism social practices, like paid work and domestic
1% or like the difference between taking a bus to go for work and taking a bus to a
tourist destination.
Tourism, as a significant social phenomena, involves a temporary break with normal
routine to engage with experiences that contrast with everyday life, with the mundane.
Almost all travel types-the explorer, the pilgrim, the monk, the merchant, the &dent,
the missionary, the hennit, the refugee, the conqueror, the cure seeker etc.-cm be cited .
as promtypew of the modem tourist.
WHAT IS TOURISM?
Well, the term tourism comprises several social practices. AU these have the minimal
common characteristic -that they are different and they are a 'departure' from normal
life. These minimal characteristics help us to define toutism, which according to the
W.T.O. is the movement of people away from their normal place of residence and work
for a period of not less than 24 hours and not more than 1 year.
World Tourism
oaganisation tom is^^ infact is a leisure activity because it coexists wilh ifs opposite, that is regulated
and organised work. This shows us that in modem societies work and leisun: are
hlLadrid, Spain wganised as sepmte and regulated areas of social practice. They are located in specific
p k e s and periods of time. Tourism involves the movement of people to, and their stay
at varbzrs destinations. This involves a journey and services like transport,
accommodation, catering and viewing etc. The jdurney to and stay at a site is outside
the nonnal place of work and residence for a short period. There is a clear intention
when "going away" to "return borne". We must remember that tourism sites are not
connected with paid work and they preferably offer some c o n m t with sites where a
person's work and residence are located.
A substantial proporlion of the population engages in going away on holiday. Heace,
new socialised forms of the provision for goods and d c e s are develqxd in order to
cater to the mass character of tourism practices.. The twrist is, therefore, different from .
'the traveller, because travel has an individual character where as tourism bas, a mass
character. Tourism is directed at places chosen for the anticipation (often built on day
dreaming and fantasy) of intense pleasure because such places are different to what we
n o d y encounter. Such anticipation is sustained through a variety of experiences
which influence our d@ly lives like Fdm, T.V., fiction, magazines, records, videos etc.
which consvuct and ~ n f o r c eour image of a tourist bestination.
The tourist's gaze is directed towards a landscape. a town or an event by pointing out
those features that separate it from everyday life. Whilst many features are v h e d
because they are out of the ordinary, there is much more emphasis on the visual Understanding Tourism-1
elements because we have seen it before through photographs, post cards, films etc.
Infact, we recapture the site through personal experience. Tourism, therefore, also
involves the recognition and collection of signs that represent a reality of another time
and another place. For example camel rides in the desert for a person who resides in
the hills.
.
1 A number of tourism professionals emerge and develop these signs. They attempt to
create new and newer objects for the consumption of the tourist's gaze. What they
I produce and why it becomes an object of tourism, or why it becomes popular depends
I on the competition between the travel trade for the attention of the tourist on the one
hand, and on the other. the changing class, gender and generational distinctions of taste
I
within the group of potential visitors. For example, one may stay in a five star hotel or
a Yatri Niwas: one may take a pilgrimage or a beach holiday; one may go on a
package tour or take a trekking holiday alone.
Finally, tourism h i also become a status symbol in modem society and thought to be
necessary to ones health. Today 40% of free time is devoted to travel in developed
countries. 429 million tourists spent U.S. $ 429 billion in 1990 and by the year 2000
tourism services will probably be the largest sources of employment in the world. These
statistics reflect the fact that many new tourist sites are opening all over the world and
tourism is now a global phenomena.
........................................................................................................
2) Why is tourism called a phenomenon in modem society?
........................................................................................................
........................................................................................................
........................................................................................................
........................................................................................................
1.4 CONCEPTS
Film, pleasure and entertainment are concepts popularly associated with tourism. Many
writers like Boorstin and Baudrillard have said that because tourists travel in guided
groups isolated from the host environment and people, because they are encapsulated in
planes, hotels and air-conditioned buses, they remain in an "environmental bubble". Such
tourists look for westem facilities wherever they go and therefore they participate in
"pseudo-events" because they do not encounter the real world on the street level. As a
consequence tourist entrepreneurs and the local people produce displays for gullible
tourists. These, over time and with the help of the media, become images which are the
bas~sof illusions associated with the sites where tourism occurs. Thus, there is a
paradox in understanding tourism-which is defined by its opposite, work and routine;
Tourism Phenomenon yet it is engaged in reproducing the familiar (like hotels etc.) which insulate the tourist
from the strangeness of the destination or the host environment.
The mass society tourist is located in a very secure and protected environment where his
senses are necessarily restricted. The tourist never learns to decipher the complex and
alien cultures which cannot be simplified and massproduced easily. Hence, we end up
with a monotonous image of a uniform concept of tourism as hotel, beach and local
colour.
But tourism is not only a mass phenomenon. Cohen maintains that there are a variety of
tourist types and modes of tourist experience. Hence, it is necessary to:
define the tourist,
understand how tourism emerges from a basic division between the ordinary1
everyday and the extra ordinary.
explain the characteristics of the tourist product.
list types of destinations and identify their attractions, and
explain what is a tour.
Over the years the definition of tourism has undergone a change alongwith the historical
changes. According to Hunziker and Krapf tourism is "the sum of the phenomena and
relationships arising from the travel and stay of non-residents, in so far as it do not lead
to permanent residence and is not connected to any earning activity". This definition
emphasises travel and stay, but excludes day trips, business trips etc.. and the
overlapping of these boundaries with other practices.
The League of Nations in 1937 recommended that tourism covers the social activity of
those who travel for a period of 24 hours or more in a country other than the one a
person usually lives in. However, the limitation of this definition was that it excluded
dpmestic and emphasised only on international tourism.
The Rome Conference on Tourism in 1963 adopted the recommendation to replace the
term "tourist" with the term "visitor" and defined tourism as a visit "to a country other
than ones own or where one usually resides and works"; for the following reasons:
i) Tourism -the activity of temporary visitors staying at least 24 hours for leisure.
business, family, mission or meeting.
ii) Excursion -the activity of a temporary visitor staying less than 24 hours but
excluding people in transit.
This definition also excluded the domestic tourist, although it did recognise the day
visitor.
The Tourism Society of Britain in 1976 proposed to clarify the concept of tourism by
saying that "Tourism is the temporary, short-term movement of people to destinations
outside the places where they normally live and work and their activities during their
stay at these destinations, including day visits and excursions."
AIEST in 1981 refined this concept and held that "Tourism may be defined in terms of
particular activities selected by choice and undertaken outside the home environment.
Tourism may or may not involve overnight stays away from home".
These definitions indicate that tourism has expanded in its range and scope. 'The concept
of tourism has broadened to include all forms of the phenomenon of leisure activity.
Today we may define Mass Tourism as the quest of someone who travels to see
something different and is dissatisfied when he finds that things are not the same as at
home.
This definition reflects the orientation of global tourism, which is concentrated in
Western societies where 60% of international tourist arrivals are received and from
where 70% of the tourists originate. Because the control of tourism is centered in the
West, the concepts associated with tourism are necessarily influenced by the social
practices of these societies rather than the travel heritage of the non-western cultures and
developing societies.
- -
he movement of tourists from the place of origin to the destination is furthe described
International Tourism, when the travel is from one country to another, and
lomestic Tourism, when the travel is within the country i.e. Qips mlcen by a tourist
within his/her own country or where the origin and destination are in the same , .
country. - - ? ..-I - pa :
Tanist
Olltbamd WOmxJ
L\
I
. , , -.
:- 4
DOMESTIC TOURTSM
Ecommic
) Social D&.mtion
I - . En-
F'oIilical (Supply)
Tourist i
@ed)
. Infarmalion
,
T==PMt <
Accarnrnodation v
, T-g o ~ c u r s i a n 's hmmediades
(F-d)
1.4.3 Tours
Tours and their characteristics is closely linked to the motivation (See Unit 2) of the
tourist. Motivation or purpose of a visit is usually:
a Holiday or vacation, including a visit with friends and relations,
Meetings and codorences, ineluding other business activities,
Health and sports,
a Religion and Culture, or
a Special interests, including study tours, etc.
The purpose of visit determines the natw of the tour in the following ways:
i) Are you free t choose your destination?
ii) Is price a constraint?
iii) Is time a consttaint?
iv) Is quality a determining factor?
v) What facilities and services do ycs require?
Tours can be within national boundaries or in any place in the world. Such a decision Understanding Tourism-1
will have an impact on the economy of both, the country of origin and the tourists'
destination site. Tours also focus on unique natural or geographical features like the
coastline, islands, mountains, health resorts, countryside, etc. At such locations the
provision of tourist senricesjmd the pressure of tourists are bound to have impacts on
the environment, economy, local social practices and on the people.
1 I
IMF'ACT
.
1
I
.AREAS
C I 1
1.4.4 Tourists
The tourist, apart from being a holiday maker or businessman, can also be in terms of
region, nationality, socio-economic class, age and sex. Behavioural aspects like stage in
the life cycle, personality and educational levels a h help the producer of services to
design products that fit specific target groups or market segments. This is termed as
profiling the tourist (See TS-2 Block-1). Such a definitional refinement helps us to
collect data on what the tourist is really looking for at the destination. Such data also
helps us to understand tourism and to see how travel and tourism related practices differ
between different markets. Such information helps the industry to design products and
develop strategies appropriate to the needs of the market. Such data also enables
activists, who may be local activists or networking with international groups to conwl
the form of tourism being developed at a particular destination and to:
intervene in the type of development being planned, and
maximise the benefits from tourism and to rninimise negative impacts.
A destination is both a site and an event, and these two facmrs are the attractions. In a
site attraction, a location exercises appeal.like the Shimla hills, the Kerala coastline or -
the Khajuraho temple complex. With an event acting as a pull, tourists are drawn' to a
particular place because of what 3s happening at that locatim. Where both site and event
are attractions, like the Konark Dance Festival or the Elephant March or Boat race in
Kerala, the s u w s s of such a destination multiplies.
Des-ons can be spread over a wide geographical area. The attraction to a destination
lies in the image it has or the attractions it offers. (You will read in detail about
destinations in Unit 18).
1) Explain why tourism 'is difficult to define. How would you define Tourism?
.........................................................................................................
2) Is the tourist product similar to other products?
Today people are feverishly participating in tourism. This may include short trips during
the week, weekend breaks or longer journeys during holidays. Old age pensioners have a
dream of retiring to a place where the weather is good and the prices low. Without any
outside pressure, millions of people flock to destinations of their own free will. Long
lines of cars, crowded buses and trains and jumbo jets go all over the world. As a result
the beaches become too small, shops and restaurants too cwwded, porting facilities and
the environment degraded and worn down with years of being admired and used, and
the world shrinks. For an increasing number of people work is no longer the main
purpose of life and this encourages tourism. Modem tourism is one of the most striking
phenomena of our times and tourism offers us an opportunity to learn, to enrich
humanity and to identify what may be termed as goals for a better life and a better
society. But conservationists want to change things. They want to arrest the spread of
the "landscape eaters" who have transformed the countryside with their mass migration.
Forms and types of tourism emerge within the context of changing social values. For
example, in modem society, the value of 'being' has been superseded by the value of
'having'. Possession, property, wealth, egoism and consumption have become more
important than community, tolerance, moderation, sensibility and modesty. As a result.
in all parts of the world:
a economy is characterised by increasing concentration of wealth, division of labour
and specialisation,
a. environment is being treated as if resources are renewable,
a the limits of eco-system are stretched without considering the negative aspects, and
a peoples' rights are constantly eroded to meet the needs of the power system, etc.
Forms of tourism emerge from different fields of tension such as: workhest, awake/
asleep, exertion/relaxation, income/expenditure, joblfamily, freedom/necessity, risk/
security. Similarly, dirt, noise, rush, pollution and trouble etc. are all key expressions of
such tension. The possibility of going away is very important in such a context.
The desire for tourism is therefore determined socially. Governments promote tourism,
people talk about their holidays, unions sponsor holidays, health insurance covers visits
to spas, tax rebates are given for holiday homes and corporations reward employees with
travel instead of bonus money. Seasonal pressures strengthen the urge to get away from
home. Annual vacations, the media, literature and fashion all strengthen the holiday
mania. The tourism industry whets the appetite with tantalising offers of entertainment
and pleasure. The commercialisation of recreation functions within the well-established
principles of a free market economy. In the past, in the erstwhile socialist countries
holiday homes and limited foreign travel were subsidised for workers. In India we still
have a transport subsidy called the Leave Travel Concession and most companies
provide holiday homes for their workers, but tourism is primarily a private enterprise. A
study of tourist brochures indicates the successful design of a tourist visit
1) Create a holiday mood by emphasising informality, abandonment, serenity, freedom,
pleasure.
Tourism Phenomenon 2) Show time. standing still, romanticism and relaxation, peace and space.
3) Show something beautiful that is not available at home. And typical holiday
symbols like the sun, a beach umbrella, a palm fringed coastline etc.
4) Show people from other cultures, always beaming, happy. friendly and idle.
All four ingredients from the tourism mix. However, in todays context the different
types of tourism are as follows:
2. Escape
ouri ism as a mass flight from everyday reality to an imaginary world of freedom. This
flight takes place within the movements from centres to peripheries or in other words a
North-South migration.
3. Communication
Spending quality time with family and friends, make new friends and acquaintances.
This is mass tourism, in herds, enjoying the facilities of tourism enclaves.
5. Freedom
Tourism frees you from home and work and is directed tqwards facilities and comforts
rather than experience.
6. Health
Visit spas, go to saunas, undergo cures for chronic ailment. visit health clubs for
workouts or do yoga i.e, travel for health.
9. Convention Tourism
To mix leisure with work, holding convention or meetings at tourist destinations.
'Different forms of tourism also give rise to different types of tourists.
1) The--lous tourist who is dressed in funny clothes and views everything through
the lens of a camera.
2) The naive tourist who is inexperienced in travel, always asks unnecessary questions
and has no language skills.
3) The organised tourist who feels at home with a guide and a group of fellow
tourists.
4) The ugly tourist who behaves as if he owns the world.
5) The uncultured t o s s t who is a beach bum and spends his time lazing and eating.
6) The rich tourist who can afford anything, likes to show prosperity and enjoys being
waited upon.
7) The exploiting tourist who spends a holiday at the cost of people and takes
advantage of their culture, hospitality and poverty.
8) The polluting tourist who demands that for his comfort everything can be flattened
or destroyed.
9) The alternative tourist who explores the few untouched comers of the world thus
opening the way to mass tourism.
CULTURE
EDUCATION
ESCAPE FREEDOM
WHY ?
A recent B.B.C. programme entitled "Wish you weren't here" underlines the concern
today at what the Golden Hordes have done to the world environment and fragile
communities and cultures. There was a time when the UN promoted tourism because of
its economic benefits, because:
1) A transfer of wealth from the rich to the poor was possible.
2) Regional imbalances muld be overcome in areas where there were no other
developmental resources.
3) Provide employment to people with low educational and skill levels.
4) Give rise to economic growth with the circulation of the tourist dollar.
After four decades of organised Mass Tourism, today the option for the future is
Sustainable Tourism, or tourism controlled by the local people at their pace and in
answer to their needs. The essential aspect of Sustainable Tourism is the concept of
canying capacity, that is, a 'control on the number of tourists as well as the type of
tourism to be developed. Carrying capacity is a concept that has to keep in mind the
needs of:
a) the environment
b) the level of development-both economic and social
c) culture
d) population and its needs in the present and in the future
e) tourism vs. other forms of economic activity.
Here we give you some of the projections made by the WTO in relation to future
trends.
RECEIPTS ( I ) \VORLD\VfDE 1950-93
ARRIVALS (Mn) RECEIPTS (US $En)
64x71
1350
1
I
> # .: , , _. *
EAST ASIA 1 PACIFIC 61.306 53.924 13.7 3.2 45.636 39,634 15.1 2.6
EUROPE m
304 279.836 3.7 -24 - 153.815 135.768 133 -2%
MIDDLE EAST 7.921 6.674 18.7 -103 5.398 4.279 262 -16.5
SOUTH ASIA 9.509 3.279 71) 3.1 2076 1,968 5.5 -1.1
b e e : WTO
..
.........................................................................................................
!
.........................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................
2) Differentiate between different forms of tourism and link them to impacts on the
environment and culture.
.........................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................
Tourism Phenomemn
You have seen that tourism' is defined in different ways. It is crucial to note that the
tourist has the understanding of coming back to the place of residence after being at the
destination and having enjoyed the tourist products, attractions and services. There are
different forms of tourism and so also the types of tourists with their own behavioural
characteristics. Over the years different concepts have emerged in tourism. Tourism
products and services play a vital role. While looking at the future trends a variety of
factors have to be accounted for. For example, now there is emphasis on the
Alternative or Sustainable Tourism as people are beginning to assert their rights and
demand controls.
1.8 KEYWORDS