General Overview

Tourism is a complex phenomenon. This module explores some of the issues that make tourism so complex and tries to provide a better understanding of the phenomenon of tourism that is necessary for subsequent course content. While many people may travel and think they are familiar, there are many intricacies and nuances to tourism which many people may be unaware of.

Like many or most business sectors there is demand (i.e., tourists) and supply (e.g., attractions, accommodations, food and beverage, transportation). But, on the demand side tourists can be differentiated, segmented, grouped from various perspectives (e.g., day versus overnight, leisure versus business) and for various purposes (e.g., marketing, counting). On the supply side tourism includes for-profit, non-profit, and government. Tourism also includes businesses or organizations laypeople do not necessarily think of as being involved in tourism.

An understanding of the history of tourism is important to put into context tourism today and in the future. Here is a relatively brief history and key historic periods of tourism. . Here are selected periods from Leiper (2004):

• Nomadism – “For hundreds of thousands of years all humans were nomads, people without permanent residences whose lives involved routinely travelling” (Leiper, 2004, p. 4).
• Pilgrimage – “Visiting sacred sites has been a reason for travel in various historical eras, and in various places, for thousands of years” (Leiper, 2004, p. 5).
• ‘Grand Tour’ – “The Grand Tour in its typical European format involved tourists from the upper classes of society. Most were young men, on long and leisurely circuits of the Continent, typically away for a year ore more. Travelling independently, they were accompanied by personal servants and in many cases a tutor, appointed by their parents to provide the young man with an education while he was away. The main purpose was to provide education and training, not so much from the tutor’s lessons but by first-hand experiences at classical sites and by mixing socially with members of upper-class societies in the leading cities in Europe, such as Paris, Naples, Rome, and Vienna” (Leiper, 2004, p. 11).

And Industry or System?

Morrison et al. (2018) presents reasons tourism can be viewed as an industry, as well as a system. As an industry, tourism is ambiguous, or has numerous perspectives of what tourism is. Think about it, there are numerous things tourists need…transportation, accommodations, food and beverage, entertainment, and many other possibilities. As a result, destinations often combine all of the economic impact measures (e.g., tourist spending, jobs, tax dollars) to show the greatest impact possible. This makes tourism attractive to politicians who frequently campaign with a promise of creating more jobs, keeping taxes low, etc. In terms of keeping taxes low, the residents of a tourism destination would pay more without tourists coming and spending money which includes taxes to the local and state government. The following are reasons Morrison et al. (2018) suggest tourism is a system:

• Interdependency – Tourists need all those sectors (e.g., transportation, accommodations, etc.) mentioned in the above paragraph
• Open System – New businesses can enter the system at any time
• Complexity and variety – Types and scale of restaurants and accommodations, types of attractions (e..g.,, amusement park, performing arts, sporting events, etc.)
• Competitiveness…..partnerships – Although there is competition within a destination such as between restaurants, there can also be partnerships (e.g., Restaurant Week in many cities, programs like CityPass which package numerous attractions into one bundle and sell at a discount. An example of this might be going to a museum district and being able to visit multiple museums without haveng to pay at each
• Friction and Disharmony – Constantly changing and the system needs to be able to respond. Things like the economy, politics, natural disasters, and other issues can arise at any time and the entire destination system needs to work together to respond.

Tourism and Travel

As already mentioned, tourism is a complex phenomenon with various stakeholders, perspectives, travel segments, and many other unique aspects. McKercher and Prideaux (2020) suggest the task of defining tourism is impossible, at least a precise definition. There are two types of tourism definitions, heuristic and technical (McKercher & Prideaux, 2020). Heuristic definitions are fundamental to academics/education and provide broader perspectives. To understand what heuristic means…take heuristic learning, which essentially means interactive learning. A class like tourism, where we all have different perspectives should be interactive. The technical is more precise and used to measure the volume of tourism, which is discussed later in the section titled “Counting Tourists”.

However, McKercher and Prideaux (2020) suggest what is classified as tourism versus non-tourism is not very clear. If the definition of tourism is not clear, identifying tourists versus non-tourists is also difficult. Therefore, there are many definitions of tourism.  As a student of tourism it is important to have your own understanding and explanation, which fits more in the heuristic approach. Some examples for consideration and understanding include the following definition offered by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) that is frequently cited: …Tourism is a social, cultural, and economic phenomenon which entails the movement of people to countries or places outside their usual environment for personal or business/professional purposes” (UNWTO Glossary of Tourism Terms).

To put the context of this course into perspective, according to Jafari (2000), tourism is a “holistic view which accommodates a systemic study of tourism: all its parts, its interconnected structures and functions, as well as ways it is influenced by and is influencing other forms and forces relating to it” (p. 585). Well before this definition, Leiper (1979) offered a framework of tourism that identifies the following elements:

• Tourists
• Three geographical regions
  • Origin (where to visitors, and potential visitors, live?)
  • Route (how will visitors get from their origin to the destination?)
  • Destination (the geographic area visitors go to when they travel)
• Tourism industry

Think about the above elements identified by Leiper (1979) in the the first part of Jafari’s (2000) definition of tourism, which includes the words ‘holistic’, ‘systematic’, ‘interconnected’. Tourism requires the movement of people from the origin to the destination (and back), as well as within the destination. This requires connections between the origin and destination (interconnected). The various aspects of tourism also need to be interconnected within a destination. No one business or organization provides everything tourists need.

The phrase ‘tourism industry’ has received a fair amount of attention. Other phrases sometimes used to aggregate tourism include ‘tourism sector’ (Leiper, 2008) and ‘tourism system’ (Morrison et al., 2018). Leiper (2008) argues that phrase ‘tourism industry’ should be plural. After all, tourism is made up of a variety of industries…accommodations, food and beverage, transportation, retail, attractions, etc.

Some important elements of tourism or what comprises the overall tourism product:

• Infrastructure – think of these as things residents need, but so do tourists:
  • Utilities (e.g., power, waste removal, water) first responders (i.e., fire, police), medical services, communication systems
• Transportation – how tourists get to and within the destination:
  • Airports, rail stations, roads, waterways
• Built facilities – facilities required for tourists when they travel:
  • Accommodations, food and beverage, shopping, convention and exhibition centers, and others
• Attractions – each destination has a different mix of attractions:
  • Site versus event attractions:
    • Site attractions are relatively permanent (e.g., museum, amusement park)
    • Event attractions are temporary and can move to different locations and venues (e.g., concert, football game, festival)
  • Man made versus natural attractions
    • Man made attractions are built (e.g., museum, amusement park)
    • Natural attractions can be considered natural resources (e.g., rivers, lakes, oceans, national parks, mountains)

Because tourism and travel often mean the same to many people, the words are often used interchangeably or as synonyms (Leiper, 2004). Some organizations use both words in the title, such as World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) and Travel and Tourism Research Association (TTRA). However, the origins of the words provide interesting perspectives on differences between the words. Leiper (2004) points out that travel originates from the word “travail” which meant torture in Europe 1,000 years ago when travelers “felt as though they were being tortured by the discomfort of waling or riding wagons on rough roads, exposed to the weather. Over time this evolved into ‘travel’, meaning to go from one place to another” (p. 9). Traveling for many people remains an unpleasant experience due to such things as long flights, layovers, hassle of getting to and from destinations, even when going for pleasure. In this context, think about the forms of travel: by plane, train, automobile, boat, bicycle, walking, etc.

The word tourism originates from the word ‘tour’, which is Greek for making a circle. The circular aspect of a ‘tour’ is that one returns to their place of origin. Such trips were more leisurely than experience of travel originating from ‘travails’.

To further differentiate between tourism and travel, when people move between two places they are traveling, not tourisming. Recall in the UNWTO definition tourism is a phenomenon. Travel is a verb (i.e., action) and tourism is a noun. Therefore, travel is essentially the phenomenon of moving between places (Jafari, 2000).

Above travel and tourism were differentiated, but what about when referring to people? Who is a traveler and who a tourist? Again, the words often get used simultaneously but there are some indicators of differentiating between the two. McKercher and Prideaux (2020) suggest “travelers” view themselves as having higher status than “tourists”. This is very subjective.

Since place is vague, it is important to further define in tourism it is a destination, which is a “geographic area that attracts visitors” (Morrison et al., 2018, p. 487). In tourism, geographic areas can be a country, state/province, region, metropolitan statistical area, city, county. Regions can represent a grouping of geographic areas. For example, Travel Texas identifies seven regions of Texas, each including several counties and cities (https://www.traveltexas.com/cities-and-regions/).

Destinations and Attractions

Since destinations are the larger geographic area, it is important to understand why people are drawn to tourism destinations. The primary reason is attractions, especially leisure tourism such as vacations.  Attractions have many characteristics, and each destination has a unique combination of attractions.

Attractions are what generally draw tourists to a destination and can be either a site or event attraction. A site attraction is characterized as being relatively permanent, while events are short-term. Events can take place at multiple possible venues. Think about concerts or athletic events, which occur for a few hours and could occur in multiple venues. For example, a concert can take place in a sports stadium or at a music venue and can take place in one city on Friday and another city on Saturday.

While tourists are drawn to destinations for the attractions, it is important for destinations to have other components: infrastructure, transportation, built facilities, and hospitality (Morrison et al., 2018). Infrastructure includes things that local residents depend on, such as electricity, communication systems, services (e.g., police, fire, healthcare), transportation infrastructure (e.g., roads, airport and rail terminals). These are just some examples, there are numerous things both residents and visitors of a destination require.

Transportation overlaps some with what is listed above for transportation infrastructure. However, transportation also includes cruise ships (which is unique and actually must provide all five components), and public transportation. The modes of travel include road, sea (and other bodies of water), air, and rail. Think about all the potential ways tourists can get to/from and within a tourism destination.

Built facilities exist to support attractions, but could also serve as attractions. Hotels and other accommodations, resorts, food and beverage, convention centers, shopping are generally considered built facilities. However, think about a resort…like cruise ships they can provide all five components of tourism. In addition, some people might travel for food and beverage motivations, such as eating at a celebrity chef’s restaurant. Hotels can also serve as attractions. For example, there are reportedly haunted hotels, hotels where famous people have stayed, historic hotels, and other examples. Other people may travel to somewhere like Hollywood and Rodeo Drive for shopping. So, there can be quite a bit of overlap in the five components and what serves as attractions is very subjective.

Hospitality is generally the way hosts (e.g., tourism employees, local residents) treat tourists or guests to the city. Ideally, a destination would prefer all locals to be friendly, courteous, and hospitable. Many destinations provide an ambassador program that can be available to all locals, not just those who work in tourism. Houston has the Houston Insider which helps educate residents, potentially help with volunteers for large events (e.g., Super Bowl, Final Four, FIFA World Cup), and provide information about the tourism industry for locals to share with their friends and relatives when they visit Houston.

Counting Tourists

To help understand counting tourists, especially leisure/vacation tourists, it is important to understand the following types of time:

• Work time – time spent on work obligations (this includes school for students).
• Maintenance time – time spent fulfilling non-work obligations (this includes taking care of children, household chores/maintenance, etc.).
• Leisure time – time leftover for people to participate in activities they enjoy, including leisure/vacation travel.

It is important to recognize that what fits time can vary from individual to individual. For example, some people enjoy their work so much it is like leisure. For some maintaining a garden is to grow products for consumption in the household. For others gardening can be a leisure activity that also provides products for household consumption.

For destinations it is important to count tourists in different ways. Knowing the different types of tourists is important for other aspects of tourism we will discuss later (e.g., planning, development, marketing and promotion). First are broad categories of leisure and business travel.

• Leisure – a trip such as a family vacation, weekend getaway, or other trip taken during one’s personal leisure time.
• Business – a trip taken that is work related. Examples include making a sales call, visiting a client, attending a meeting, conference, convention, trade show.

A key differentiator of leisure and business travel is who is likely to pay for the travel.  Leisure travel is typically paid for by the traveler(s), while business travel by one’s employer. Of course, there can be exceptions that can make this more complicated. For example, someone may earn a vacation for themself and family through performance at their work, which is part of the incentive travel segment.

A few other important ways tourism is counted or quantified are based on whether a tourist(s) is coming (inbound) or going (outbound) between the origin and destination and whether the trip is domestic or international. These two ways of measuring tourism can be combined to measure balance of trade for destinations. The basic definitions of these are:

• Inbound – the classification of a tourist for the destination she/he is visiting.
• Outbound – the classification of a tourist for the origin or geographic area of residence.
• Domestic – the classification of a tourist when she/he takes a trip within their country of origin.
• International – the classification of a tourist when she/he takes a trip outside their country of origin.

When counting tourists using the two variables above, there are four combinations based on whether tourists are inbound or outbound and domestic or international:

• Inbound, Domestic
• Outbound, Domestic
• Inbound, International
• Outbound, International

The following two bullet points are scenarios to practice applying the variables of inbound/outbound and domestic/international. You should be able to identify which of the above combinations correctly answers the question in each bullet point below.

• Beth lives in Denver, Colorado. She takes a vacation to San Diego, California. San Diego, California would count Beth as which of the above?
• Mike lives in Paris, France. He takes a vacation to Madrid, Spain. Paris, France would count Mike as which of the above?

Other ways to measure tourists include:

• Round trip – whether day trip or overnight, tourism includes returning to one’s origin
  • Day-trip – general definition is traveling 50 or miles one-way for non-commuting to work purposes
  • Overnight trip – any trip that includes at least one night, typically in paid accommodations but could include visiting friends or relatives and staying with them)
  • Group trip – counted as one trip regardless how many people are in the group
  • Group days – total number of days a group travels
  • Person trip – total number of people in the group
  • Person days – total number of days a group travels multiplied by the number of people in the group

Examples: if a family of four takes a vacation it is one group.  But, in persons it counts as four person trips. Then the trip can be converted to days.  So, say the family of four takes a five-day vacation…it is five group days. Multiply that by the persons in the group and it is counted as 20 person days.

Tourism as an Academic Discipline

Over 25 years ago tourism was recognized as a complex academic discipline that crosses into multiple disciplines (Echtner & Jamal, 1997). Tourism has and is criticized for lacking theory. Instead, academic research often borrows from other disciplines, making tourism an interdisciplinary discipline. Echtner and Jamal (1997) identify the following disciplines tourism borrows from:

• Sociology (migration, leisure)
• Social psychology
• Geography
• Anthropology

A bit more recently, Cheng et al. (2011) provide the following academic disciplines based on reviewing the development and focus of the content of 59 tourism-related journals:

• Hotel and restaurant administration
• Economics
• Marketing
• Sociology
• Parks and recreation
• Cultural/heritage study
• Management and administration
• Psychology
• Environmental studies
• Anthropology
• Education
• Geography
• Urban and regional planning
• Business
• Kinesiology
• History
• Law
• Finance
• Gaming
• Transportation
• Computer science/technology
• Gerontology
• Political science
• Entrepreneurship
• Architecture
• Agriculture
• Literature
• Medicine
• Philosophy/religion

Educational tourism programs can be found in the following types of academic units at universities:

• Hospitality
• Parks, recreation, and tourism
• Recreation and leisure
• Geography
• Business

For class discussion, think about how you would explain tourism to someone (e.g., friend, roommate, relative) in one or two sentences.

References

Cheng, C.-K., Li, X., Petrick, J. F., & O’Leary, J. T. (2011). An examination of tourism journal development. Tourism Management, 32, 53-61.

Echtner, C. M., & Jamal, T. B. (1997). The disciplinary dilemma of tourism studies. Annals of Tourism Research, 24(4), 868-883.

Edelheim, J. R. (2022). Why do we teach tourism? In A. Sharma, A. Hassan, & P. Mohanty (Eds.), COVID-19 and the tourism industry: Sustainability, resilience and new directions (1st ed., pp. 127-144). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003207467-12

Jafari, J. (Ed.). (2000). Encyclopedia of tourism. Routledge.

Leiper, N. (1979). The framework of tourism: Towards a definition of tourism, tourist, and the tourist industry. Annals of Tourism Research, 6(4), 390-407.

Leiper, N. (2004). Tourism management (3rd ed.). Pearson Education Australia.

Leiper, N. (2008). Why ‘the tourism industry’ is misleading as a generic expression: The case for the plural variation, ‘tourism industries’. Tourism Management, 29, 237-251. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2007.03.015

McKercher, B., & Prideaux, B. (2020). Tourism theories, concepts and models. Goodfellow Publishers Ltd.

Morrison, A. M., Lehto, X. Y., & Day, J. G. (2018). The tourism system (8th ed.). Kendall Hunt.