Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as being limited to holiday activity only", as people "travelling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure and not less than 24 hours, business and other purposes". Tourism can be domestic (within the traveller's own country) or international. International tourism has both incoming and outgoing implications on a country's balance of payments. Between the second half of 2008 and the end of 2009, tourism numbers declined due to a severe economic slowdown (see Great Recession) and the outbreak of the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus. These numbers, however, recovered until the COVID-19 pandemic put an abrupt end to the growth. The United Nations World Tourism Organization has estimated that global international tourist arrivals might have decreased by 58% to 78% in 2020, leading to a potential loss of US$0.9–1.2 trillion in international tourism receipts. Globally, international tourism receipts (the travel item in the balance of payments) grew to US$1.03 trillion (€740 billion) in 2005, corresponding to an increase in real terms of 3.8% from 2010. International tourist arrivals surpassed the milestone of 1 billion tourists globally for the first time in 2012. Emerging source markets such as China, Russia, and Brazil had significantly increased their spending over the previous decade. Global tourism accounts for c. 8% of global greenhouse-gas emissions. Emissions as well as other significant environmental and social impacts are not always beneficial to local communities and their economies. Many tourist development organizations are shifting focus to sustainable tourism to minimize the negative effects of growing tourism. This approach aims to balance economic benefits with environmental and social responsibility. The United Nations World Tourism Organization emphasized these practices by promoting tourism as part of the Sustainable Development Goals, through programs such as the International Year for Sustainable Tourism for Development in 2017.
Etymology The English-language word tourist was used in 1772 and tourism in 1811. These words derive from the word tour, which comes from Old English turian, from Old French torner, from Latin tornare, "to turn on a lathe", which is itself from Ancient Greek tornos (τόρνος), "lathe".
Definitions In 1936, the League of Nations defined a foreign tourist as "someone traveling abroad for at least twenty-four hours". Its successor, the United Nations, amended this definition in 1945, by including a maximum stay of six months. F.W. Ogilvie formulated one of the earliest social science definitions of "tourist" in the 1930s, defining the term as "any person whose movements fulfill two conditions: first, that absence from home is relatively short, and second, that money spent during absence is money derived from home and not in the place visited." In 1941, Hunziker and Kraft defined tourism as "the sum of the phenomena and relationships arising from the travel and stay of non-residents, insofar as they do not lead to permanent residence and are not connected with any earning activity." In 1976, the Tourism Society of England's definition was: "Tourism is the temporary, short-term movement of people to destinations outside the places where they normally live and work and their activities during the stay at each destination. It includes movements for all purposes." In 1981, the International Association of Scientific Experts in Tourism defined tourism in terms of particular activities chosen and undertaken outside the home. In 1994, the United Nations identified three forms of tourism in its Recommendations on Tourism Statistics:
Domestic tourism, involving residents of the given country traveling only within this country Inbound tourism, involving non-residents traveling into the given country Outbound tourism, involving residents traveling to another country Other groupings derived from the above grouping:
National tourism, a combination of domestic and outbound tourism Regional tourism, a combination of domestic and inbound tourism International tourism, a combination of inbound and outbound tourism Tourism has reached new dimensions with the emerging industry of space tourism, as well as the transoceanic cruise ship industry. The terms tourism and travel are sometimes used interchangeably. In this context, travel has a similar definition to tourism but implies a more purposeful journey. The terms tourism and tourist are sometimes used pejoratively, to imply a shallow interest in the cultures or locations visited. By contrast, traveller is often used as a sign of distinction. The sociology of tourism has studied the cultural values underpinning these distinctions and their implications for class relations.
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