The different forms of tourism

FORMS OF TOURISM

Definition of tourism

One of the most used definitions for tourism is the one by the World Trade Organization (WTO). The WTO defines tourism as “…the activities of persons travelling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes not related to the exercise of an activity remunerated from within the place visited.”

Another definition by Mathieson and Wall, 1982, is also worth nothing. They wrote in 1982 that tourism is “The temporary movement of people to destinations outside their normal places of work and residence, the activities undertaken during their stay in those destinations, and the facilities created to cater to their needs.”

From the above, one can define tourism as the non-permanent movement of a person from his or her place of abode to another place for purposes not limited to business, leisure and pleasure but not receiving any monetary compensation for it in the destination country. It includes staying in places provided by others for free or paid for and using facilities created for the benefit of making life easy during their stay.

FORMS OF TOURISM

Incoming/inbound

This refers to non-residents of one country vising a different country. An example of incoming tourism is a national of the United Kingdom visiting Nigeria. This is very common where people from Europe leave their country during the summer, for example, to visit countries in Asia and Africa.

Out-coming /outbound

This refers to the situation where residents of a country move out to visit a different country. An example of out-coming tourism is a Nigerian moving from his country to visit the United Kingdom. There are several people moving in this direction just to go on holidays or to acquire knowledge in universities and other tertiary institutions in Europe and America.

International tourism

International tourism refers to the situation where one moves from his or her country to another country for purposes not limited to business, leisure and pleasure. It includes staying in places provided by others for free or paid for and using facilities created for the benefit of making life easy during their stay.

Domestic tourism

Domestic tourism can be defined as the non-permanent movement of a person from his or her place of abode to another place, within the same country, for purposes not limited to business, leisure and pleasure. It includes staying in places provided by others for free or paid for and using facilities created for the benefit of making life easy during their stay.

Long haul or short haul

This term is associated with the travel industry especially air travel. It is linked to the distance that has to be covered before a journey is complete. Air travel can run between one hour and up to more than twelve hours. A short haul flight is mostly below three hours. We also have medium haul flights, these ones take between three and six hours. Then there are long haul flights which are expected to last for between six and twelve hours. Any flight that lasts for more than twelve hours is referred to as ultra-long haul flight.

Business tourism

Business tourism is another aspect of the tourism sector. In this situation, though the tourist is travelling, he is still working at the same time. He attends to business issues even while away from his office and from home and family. At the place visited, he or she could be attending meetings on behalf of his company, or attending to business back at home with the use of the internet and other mediums of communication like the telephone.

Ecotourism

Ecotourism is captured in many different ways. It could, for example, be referred to as environmental tourism or sustainable tourism. In whatever way it is referred to, the fundamental thing is to engage in travel in such a way that the environment does not suffer in any way or gets degraded. Ecotourism attempts to conserve nature and leaves it as it was found or very close to how it was found.

Cultural tourism

Cultural tourism is “movements of persons for essentially cultural motivations such as study tours, performing arts and cultural tours, travel to festivals and other cultural events, visits to sites and monuments, travel to study nature, folklore or art, and pilgrimages.” This is according to the United Nations World Tourism Organization. Other people, however, refer to the involvement of tourists in the cultural activities of local people such as festivals, traditional rituals and carnivals as cultural tourism. For example, if a visitor to Nigeria participates in the activities celebrating Yam Festival in a community, he or she is involved in cultural tourism.

Religious/mistrial tourism

Religious tourism today is a growing area of tourism. Also referred to as mistrial tourism, people travel to other parts of the world or inside their own country on pilgrimage, some too engage in religious tourism when they go on missions to promote and spread their brand of religion. There are religious movements that organize camp meetings to teach or to train members. Pastors move from one country to the other to participate in annual international religious programmes. Muslims go to Mecca on pilgrimage every year as directed by the Koran.

Sports tourism

Sports tourism is a growing area of tourism now estimated to be worth billions of dollars. Basically, people involved in sports tourism travel from their hometowns or home countries to either participate in a sporting event or just spectate. For example, during FIFA sanctioned tournaments, participating countries transport their citizens to the venue to watch the matches live. In a few weeks, starting June 2018, Russia will play host to the world in the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Several visitors are going to throng to Moscow and other hosting cities to watch the matches and have a lot of fun. This is sports tourism.

SAMPLE QUESTION(S)

1. Highlight six forms of tourism

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