According to (Gilbert ,2004) Wester dictionary define the word tourism as deprived from the word tour as visiting various places and is usually a planned visits with the use of itinerary on a round trip for pleasure business or education and the trip is usually returned to its starting point. However in 1937, the international definition of a tourist was someone travels for more than 24 hours outside of their home.Furthermore, according to Bukhara and Medlik in 1940 and later 1980 by Heeley identified tourism in two main groups as in 1) nature of tourism as an activity and 2) as what constitutes Tourism activity
Tourism is hard to identify through economic and its social definition.According to Herman Von Schullards in 1910 an Austria economist define tourism as a “ the sum of total operation, mainly of economic nature which directly relate to the entry, stay and movement of foreigners inside and outside a certain country city or region”. Economist might focus on Tourism in terms of its contribution to GDP, employment or revenue generation while sociologist might examine its cultural impacts, social dynamics, or effects on communities.
Tourism overlaps with concept like migration business travel and commuting. For example business travellers or seasonal workers might be considered tourist under some definition but not others, depending on the context
Tourism involves various stakeholders including travellers, service providers (hotels, airlines, tour operators)Government and local communities.Each stakeholder may have different perspective on what constitutes tourism.
Accoriding to (Govers,.et.al 2008) Smith states in 1999:137 quoting “Despite the importance usual enviroment in tourism the [UN]WTO doesn’t not specify how the concept should be operationalised. Instead, statistical agencies are free to decide how this concept should define within their own social, political and economic context”(Gover.,et.al.,2008)
Reference
- Govers, R., Van Hecke, E. and Cabus, P., 2008. Delineating tourism: Defining the usual environment. Annals of Tourism Research, 35(4), pp.1053-1073.
- Gilbert, D.C., 2004. Conceptual issues in the meaning of tourism. Tourism: Critical concepts in the social sciences, 1, pp.45-69