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What is Tourism?

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. These people are called visitors, which may be either tourists or sightseers; residents or non-residents and tourism has to do with their actions, some of which imply tourism expenditure.

Tourism Definition

V.S. Herman – Australian economist “Tourism is the sum total of the operations, mainly of an economic nature, which directly relate to the entry, stay and movement of foreigners inside and outside a certain country, city or region”

Hunziker and Krapf “Tourism is the totality of the relationship and phenomenon arising from the travel and stay of strangers, provided the stay does not imply the establishment of permanent residence and is not connected with a remunerated activity”.

International Tourism Society “Tourism is terms of particular activities selected by choice and undertaken outside the home environment. Tourism may or may not involve overnight stays away from home”.

A.K. Bhatia Tourism does not exist alone. It consists of certain components, three of which may consider as basic. They are Transport Locale and Accommodation.

The definition brings out the following three distinct fundamentals of Tourism.

• Involvement of travel by non-residents.
• Stay of temporary nature in the area visited.
• Stay not connected with any activity involving earnings.

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What is Tourist?

The origin of the word ‘Tourist’ dates back to A.D.1292. It has originated from the word ‘Tour’ a derivation of the Latin word ‘Turners’, meaning a tool for relating a circle or a turner’s wheel. In the first half of the 17th century, the term was used for travelling from place to place a journey, an excursion, or rousing the principal parts of a country or region.

Based on the definition of tourism, a generally accepted description of a tourist is “someone who travels at least 80 km from his or her home for at least 24 hours, for business or leisure or other reasons” The United Nations World Tourism Organization helps us break down this definition further by stating tourists can be:

• Domestic (residents of a given country travelling only within that country)
• Inbound (non-residents travelling in a given country)
• Outbound (residents of one country travelling in another country)

A Tourist is a person who travels to a place other than his/her typical place of residence and stays at hotels or other accommodation establishments run on a commercial basis for duration of not less than 24 hours and not more than 6 months for pleasure, pilgrimage, religious or social functions, study and health, meetings, business etc. purposes.

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Elements of Tourism

Location

Location is one of the first vital aspects for the growth of tourism. The region located on the seaside or in mountainous ranges has a great desirability to tourists. The natural mystery of these places always attracts people. Apart from this, tourism has been emerging much more in the cool temperate region than the hottest climatic region. People feel much more comfortable where climate is enjoyable and easy transport system is available. In India, the Himalayan belts and the sea plans are the chief tourist centers for their beautiful location.

Accommodation

Accommodation is one of the basic components of tourism industry and includes all such provisions such as meals, rest houses, recreation etc. essential for the visitors or tourists. Hotels, motels, tourist’s rest houses, traveler lodges, circuit houses, youth hostels, dharmashalas, inns, etc. are the different types of accommodation. In India, most of the states, the state tourism development corporation and in many states ITDC have recognized their own complexes. There are other establishments which are run by religious institutions, charitable trust and community association.

Transport

Transport is one of the most significant elements for visitors. There are many modes of transportation. There is very close relationship between transportation and visitors. Air transport is quickest and comfortable transportation mode. Air transport is beneficial for long-distance travel. Road transport is vital for both long and short distance. It is also a significant means of transport in the interior regions.

There are four kinds of roadways national high ways, state highways, district highways and local roads. Rail transport is an equally vital as road transport. It is a cheap, comfortable and easy of travel within and between cities and states. The Indian railways network is the fourth largest in the world. Water is another easy or inexpensive way of transportation. The water bodies like river, lake, canal, sea or oceans provide means to system.

Attraction

The development of tourism also depends on the desirability of the places. The areas with full of natural resources and beauty attract people very much. Lakes, rivers, coastal area, hill station etc. are some striking points to visitors. Various parts of the Himalayan belts and the south Indian regions attract a large number of tourists for their religious values.

Historical and Cultural aspects

The historical and cultural importance plays an important role for evolving tourism in a country the forts, historical sculptures; the battle fields, temples etc. attract tourists of diverse places of the world. India is an ancient land having a great historical past and so it has a great attraction from all over the world on the other hand literature, art, paintings etc. have a great cultural value which attract tourists and help to develop tourism.

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Nature of Tourism

The nature of tourism is closely connected to travelling. It has been a human phenomenon since the start of human civilization. It is a sensitive feature of human nature in the context of survives, explores and knows to unknown. Tourism is an important economic industry all over the world.

As taking into account today’s conditions for tourism industry there is no need of any raw material, machinery as it is essential in other industries. By seeing nation’s economic, social and regional importance every nation from the world should give special importance on the expansion of tourism industry. Hence tourism industry is a kind of emerging industry day by day. India is developing nation so there should be huge importance to this industry.

Ancient day’s tourism was taken as only entertainment. There were many purposes at the back this industry like natural beauty arts by visiting a broad place and receiving enjoyment. From the last decades the tourism has become, economic industry. Nature of tourism will comprehend help of following Points.

Specialty

Tourism is a trustworthy activity in which we took ourselves away from our home and day to day work. There are diverse purposes of tourism such as religious, recreations, heritage, adventure, health, sports, natural beauty, etc. Hence the nature of tourism is based on specialty.

Diversity

Tourism is a financial activity. It has numerous benefits for growth. It has invisible benefit through by this industry various people have been working in various places. So many tourists have captivated towards this industry. As considering the growth of our country this industry has bright future. This industry has made dynamic role in development of our nation.

Recreational

As considering the recreational nature of tourism numerous tourists make plan to go other destination due to the reason of entertainment. Because of this purpose tourist can watch particular nature, beauty of monuments, and experience of weather and climate, nowadays people have been visiting one place to other place due to their amusing value.

Dynamic Nature

The nature of tourism is dynamic, it always changes. Tourism is a part of wandering; with the assistance of travel and tourism we make relationships with other people and learn many things from them. Tourism is a multifaceted phenomenon. There are two kinds of activities such as moveable and immovable. If we stay in a hotel for a little bit of time at that time the tourism converts to non-moveable.

Seasonal Nature

The nature of tourism is seasonal. There is a significant slogan for Indian tourism “A Country of all seasons and all Reasons”. According to season tourist make their plans. In summerseason, tourist goes to cold places where they can get cool and calm climate, in rainy season they go to waterfalls because it’s natural beauty is magnate for tourist. So the nature of tourism is seasonal.

Interdisciplinary

Tourism is a vital economic industry. The nature of tourism is interdisciplinary. We study numerous elements that are appearing around us which are studied in geography, economics, and social sciences subject. There is a close association with other subject it indicates interdisciplinary nature of tourism.

Cultural and Religious

There are many religious groups in India, every group have their sacred place, it is known as worship place such as Hindu religious tourist must to visit God and Goddess temples, Muslim religious tourist visits to mosque, Christian religious tourist visit church etc. all these examples are pointers of cultural and religious things.

Historical Nature

The tourism has a historical trace. According to this historical trace tourist visits to various historical places. Such as forts, monuments, historical sculptures, temples, caves, painting, architectural work, handcraft etc. By visiting such places, we get real information about our history. As well as we can preserve our historical culture and beauty.

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Scope of Tourism

From ancient time to current day, tourism industry has got changed. Now days this industry has advanced well in manner. The Scope of tourism is enormous and can be understood with the help of following points. The scope of tourism, therefore, is broad and encompasses a number of activities.

Tourism a basic need

Tourism is one of the basic requirements of human being. Human being needs to take rest, needs to take rest and pleasure apart from his busy scheduled. Therefore, he makes plan to rest from daily work and visit to many tourist places and try to get satisfaction and freshness. It is also necessary for our health. Through by tourism we get mantel satisfaction too.

Tourism as Product

The ‘Product’ may be defined as the sum of the physical, psychological satisfactions, provides to the buyer. Marketing is the development of on product to meet the needs of the consumer and then employing the techniques of direct sales, publicity and advertising to bring this product to the consumer.

The tourist product is the country’s natural beauty, climate, history, culture and the people. Transport, accommodation and of entertainment which hopefully result in consumers satisfaction. Attraction, facilities and accessibility are three basic components of the tourist products.

Attraction

It is one of the important factors, except the desirability, the tourist will not attract to particular tourist place. The attraction is related to the purpose of tourist it means purpose is basic for attraction. The attraction could by geographical, cultural, historical, exhibitions arts and music festivals, games etc.

Facilities

Facilities are those things in the tourist product that are a essential did to the tourist place. The amenities complement the attractions. These include lodging, mode of transportation, entertainments, recreation and many others.

Accessibility

It is another significant component in the tourist product. It is a means by which a tourist can reach the area where desirability are located. If the tourist attractions are located at a place where no means of transport can reach or share there are insufficient transport amenities, these become of little value. The tourist attractions which are located near to the tourist-producing markets and are connected by a network of efficient transport receive the maximum number of tourists.

Transportation

Transport is the mainstay of modern economy. A quality network of transport leads to tourism growth hence there is very close relationship between transport and tourism. A good transport system encourages tourism services at domestic as well as global level. It helps to earn foreign exchange. Transport and tourism growth are interrelated. Hence extensive efforts should be made to improve the efficiency of transport.

Natural Environment

This is also one of the significant fundamentals of tourism. The environment is a basic part of tourism. On the earth, there are various tourist places with diverse environmental backgrounds. Good environment, cool climate, good sunshine, etc. are the features of environment so that tourist visits to many places according to the environmental background. Tourist places like forest, hills and mountains, birds and wild animals. They feel delighted when they visit such kind of places.

Culture

India has cultural background. Tourist visits to tribal regions to recognize culture of tribal people. These are original habitation. Their culture has persisted as it is; their life is strongly related with natural environment. They stay in the forest and away from the city range. They use to gather a variety of medicines from the trees of forest. Their lives are shifting due to communication with the outside world. There are numerous tribes all over the world.

For examples

• Warli in Thane district
• Bhills in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat
• Santhals in Bihar
• Todas in Nilgiri region

These tribes have their own core, monies, festivals dance and music, people travel to these areas to study their lifestyles and this way tourists are encouraged.

Religious Tourism

India has numerous religions people belonging to diverse religions throng to their pilgrimage centers and other comes for sightseeing. Religious is one of the major factors that appeals to huge numbers of tourists all over the world. Each and every religious group visit within one year one time to their religious place or worship place, hence tourism growth is there. The above explanation helps us to understand the scope of tourism.

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Classification of Tourism

Tourism has numerous forms on the basis of the purpose of visit and alternative forms. These are further divided into many categories according to their nature. Forms of tourism are following as:

Adventure Tourism

If you are keen on exploring areas with activities, then an adventure tour gives you the thrill you need, throughout the trip. The list of water, land and air activities involved in adventure tourism are Trekking, Mountaineering, River rafting, Paragliding, Bungee jumping, Aero-sports, Trekker huts, Mountain Biking, Valley crossing, Bodysurfing, Canoeing, River crossing, Bird Watching, Hot Air Ballooning, Wildlife Safari, etc.

In North India, you can find the best places for adventure travel in Rajasthan, Ladakh, Rishikesh, Manali, Meghalaya, etc. This kind of tourism presents a challenge to the tourist as it requires testing of the tourist’s skills and physical fitness. India offers a wide range of adventure sports for tourists. Trekking in the Himalayas, swimming, finding out new geographical regions, sea suffering, travelling in forest, river rafting, parasailing, scuba diving etc. are kinds of adventure tourism.

Medical Tourism

Medical tourism is travelling to other areas looking for treatment. India has become a hot destination for medical tours and is the third-largest favorite destination in Asia after Thailand and Singapore.It is an old saying that, “Health is wealth”. Good health helps to progress the mental status of human being so there is a straight relationship between good health and tourism. India is the birthplace of Yoga and Ayurveda, which has a particular appeal to overseas tourists who are searching for spiritual and physical healing. There are many places such as ‘spa’, hot spring which is helpful for increasing and decreasing health problems, so health tourism is growing nowadays.

Treatment costs in advanced countries are regularly high and so to get high-quality services at affordable costs, other nations are choosing emerging countries, especially India. Highly skilled doctors, good quality services at practical costs, extraordinary care given to global tourists, ease in getting medical visa, on-time treatment, rising medical insurance market, less travelling costs, etc. made India to be one of the highly favoured medical tourism destinations in the world in the areas of Cardiology, Neurology and Orthopaedics. States that fascinate foreign tourists for treatment are Delhi, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.

Eco-Tourism

Ecotourism or Sustainable tourism, is travelling to uninterrupted natural areas for preserving the environment and empowering the lives of the domestic people. In ecotourism, the destinations that fascinate tourists are rich in flora, fauna and cultural heritage i.e., wildlife sanctuaries, biodiversity parks, and forest reserves. Ecotourism is more accountable for tourism for nature preservation, recycling, and energy efficiency. Reaching out to local people to create awareness on nature conservation and teaching them best practices to improve their living conditions.

Ecology-oriented green tourists in which they seek out ecologically sensitive travel or vacation. This is helpful to progress the knowledge of the environment of the area. The concept of ecotourism is to make a person touch and sense the beautiful nature surrounding them. This kind of tourism does not travel for entertainment, enjoyment, but they travel for protecting the environment of a specific destination. Ecotourism has been taken seriously by few environmentalists in current times due to global warming effects and climate changes. In India, Kerala, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, and the north-eastern states highly promote eco-tours.

Cultural Tourism

Cultural tourism is travelling to places with rich cultural heritage and historical shreds of evidence. India has a cultural heritage hence is a special destination for the tourism-linked industry. This tour is for exploring more about the area’s culture, art, artifacts and architecture, religions, people and their lifestyle, customs, traditions.

Recently there is development in cultural tourism in India, due to the rise in interest among the people to explore the ancient historical facts in many geographical areas. India is a great destination for cultural tourism with secretive facts on Yoga, Ayurveda, Temples, Museums, Monasteries, Sacred Rivers, Handicrafts, Artistic skills, etc.

No doubt that cultural heritage is essential for tourism because it gives evidence about our ancient culture. When foreigners visit India they feel the influence of cultural heritage. There are numerous historical things in India such as fortresses, ancient architecture, historical monuments, handicrafts caves, etc. tell us the history of cultural heritage

There are two types of the features of cultural heritage

• Ancient Architectural Tradition
• Religious Tradition

In India, the renowned states for cultural tourism are Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, and Uttaranchal.

Religious Tourism

Being a differentiated nation, India is a home of numerous religions and so it is called ‘Land of Faith’. Indians generally go for religious tours every year be it in India or abroad. Diverse religions have their sacred places and people trust that they should visit these places at least once in a lifetime. Pilgrimage tours have been happening even from our ancestors and are being continued even today by numerous families. Religious tours deliver food for the spiritual souls who seek permanent freedom from the bonds.

Created upon the nature of the product, intensity and region of travel, Religious

Tourism is categorized into the following major categories:

• Pilgrimages
• Missionary travel
• Leisure vacations
• Faith-based cruising
• Crusades, conventions and rallies
• Retreats
• Monastery visits and guest-stays
• Faith-based camps
• Religious tourist attractions

Places preferred for religious tours in India are Varanasi, Rishikesh, Gangotri, Jammu Kashmir, Amritsar, Tirupati, Ajmer, Amarnath, Velankanni, Goa, etc.

Sports Tourism

Sports Tourism has increased 10-12% recently due to the attention shown by Indians to watch live sports traveling to various cities and countries. As most of the Indians are cricket fans, they are willing to travel overseas to see international cricket matches. There is a good following for Soccer, Grand Prix and Olympics games too.

A survey revealed that Indian is frequently opting honeymoon travel package when they go for sporting events. Some even stretched their stay for a couple of days to roam around the city.

India also fascinates tourists from many countries who love to watch live games happening in the Indian venue. The sports authority of India has seven regional centres, such as at Bangalore, Gandhinagar, Kolkata, Sonpat, Delhi, Mumbai, Imphal and two sub-centres.

Netaji Subhash National Institute of Sports, Patiala, the Lakshmibai National college of Education, Thiruvananthapuram, are the main sports institutes run by this body. The tourist who will travel for sport reasons is known as sport tourist. People travel to sports centers to enjoy live tournaments i.e. cricket, tennis, football, World Cup etc.

Cruise Tourism

Cruises are one of the most active and fastest-growing components of the leisure industry in India. Cruise tourism is the new marketable product for India to discover the beautiful coastline, undisturbed idyllic islands, and virgin forests. Cruise Tourism is the modern trend in India as numerous foreign tourists are attracted to travel on a cruise. Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, and Kerala are attracting a large number of sea tourists every year. In Tamil Nadu, almost one Crore cruise tourists are recorded every year.

The coastline and inland waterways of India have the capacity to advance cruise or boathouse tourism. The 8 tourist Cruise circuits in India will include Ocean Cruise, River Cruise, and Lake Cruise. High comfort, luxury and facilities available inside the cruises are making cruise vacations as desired for Indians. There are diverse cruise packages available for 10-15 day vacations with many premiums. Ministry of Tourism is funding more to promote cruise tourism on a large scale with international cruise travel to many countries.

Agro-Tourism

Agriculture is a spinal bone of our country. Our economic and social growth is depending on agricultural practice. By agricultural practice we get raw material, foods, fruits and various other things which are required for human survival and growth. Various tourists use to visit to other country for taking the knowledge of agricultural practice. For example, from India to Israel country various tourists visit for this reason and they acquire many recent things which are useful for the growth of agricultural field. Agro-tourism is linked with economic growth.

Film Tourism

In an attempt to start India as a filming destination, the Ministry of Tourism will encourage the Cinema of India as a sub-brand of Incredible India. International Film Festivals like IFFI Goa, European Film Market, and Cannes Film festival will be held in India in the future.

Health Tourism

Health tourism consists of those travelers who travel for their health and to those destinations which cater to these travelers providing them a wide variety of services. Health travelers might be travelling to rejuvenate one at the spas or for keeping their looks by travelling to Swiss Cosmetic Surgery Clinics or even to Rishikesh for getting spiritual upliftment for a healthy and spiritualistic life. This segment contains tourists who either go for only one exact health benefit or others who have desire for a complete package.

For example, going to China to get treated of backache with acupuncture and acupressure is an example of former travelling to Kerala for Ayurveda treatment for whole body. Basically, at present-day three forms/kinds of health tourism can be identified.

Change of weather

A very common trend among all of us is to travel for a modification of weather. Usually, after some illness or mental trauma, physicians recommend a change of weather, a change of scene. For a very long time this exercise of travelling to a pleasant place to regain health and to rebuild strength has existed.

Availing a Specialized Service

Various health destinations have come up over the years. But 1990s have seen a real boom in health tourism, particularly in India. Destination specializing in one service such as hot spring spas or sculpture geysers or Ayurveda centers or yoga centers has arisen. The destinations are now famous as specialized health destinations. Numerous sites can be found on the internet highlighting services of such centers, like the health spas around dead sea. Israel is encouraging health tourism based on Dead Sea in a very big way. Likewise, spas and health centers worldwide talk about the “foundation of youth” springs and hot spring geysers, particularly in New Zealand.

Packaging A Treatment Destination

The modern trend in health tourism is to package a destination ideal for medical attention and treatment. The desirability here is the low price for the same or better medical amenities than at home, along with exploration and travelling during the recuperation period. Ayurveda treatment and yoga are two future products in this regard in the global tourism market. Thailand is trying to shake off its previous notorious fame and gain ground as a tourist destination for health tourism.

Special Needs Tourism

This is basically a very innovative trend. We cannot actually term it as health tourism since the tourists in this case do not really come for any medical treatment or health associated issues. But in this case the tourists are turned towards those destinations which can cater to the guest’s special medical requirements.

We can combine this tourist segment with health tourism, since health associated factors and reasons lead the tourist to decide on a tourist destination. Hospital treatment is not only costly in Europe but even for operations small ailments like cataract, etc tour operators have come up with medical treatment-cum-luxury packages and these are becoming progressively famous even in the domestic tourism markets.

Grand Tour

The idea of ‘Grand Tour’ was originated in Great Britain which means an educational journey. The growth of the Grand Tour followed a shift in the focus of culture and of economic and political power. Rich and educated person visited countries that had passed their peak of prestige but has historical land, cultural importance.