Tourism is usually associated with traveling and staying for a certain time in a place other than the usual place of residence.
We have all done tourism at some point in our lives. We know that activity is associated with leisure, rest and the discovery of new places, among other issues. But what exactly is tourism?
Tourism can be defined as the set of actions that a person carries out while traveling and spending the night in a place other than their usual residence , for a consecutive period of less than one year.
For example: "When I retire, I will dedicate myself to tourism in Europe" , "In this town, the majority of people make a living from tourism" , "The mayor expressed his desire to promote tourism to generate wealth" .
History of tourism
The history of tourism is extensive. Its origins can be traced back to Ancient Greece , when thousands of people traveled to attend the Olympics every four years. Understood as a commercial activity, tourism was born at the hands of the Englishman Thomas Cook , who organized the first tourist trip in history in 1841 and founded, a decade later, the first travel agency: Thomas Cook and Son.
Today, tourism is one of the most important industries worldwide and promotes trips of all kinds: for leisure purposes , cultural reasons, social interest , business or simply leisure.
Although tourism activity comes from ancient times, it was only defined a few years ago as an independent economic activity and given that it encompasses a wide variety of economic sectors and academic disciplines, finding an absolute definition of the term is somewhat difficult. It can be seen in one way or another depending on the aspect or activity from which you want to define it.
According to the activities carried out, we can differentiate between several types of tourism.
Different views
In the economic sector they could define tourism based on consumption , while a psychologist would carry out an analysis based on tourist behaviors . For his part, a geographer would offer a definition whose main element would be the territory, its properties and other issues that touch his area of work.
Below we cite some academic definitions that have been made about tourism:
Burkart and Medlik offer a description of the concept that sees it as those short and temporary trips that people make outside the place where they live or work and carry out activities other than those they are used to.
Mathieson and Wall , for their part, explain that this is the name given to the temporary movement of people to places far from their residence and for periods of less than a year.
According to the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), it consists of those activities that people carry out while traveling in environments where it is not usual for them to be, whose purposes are leisure, business or other and last periods of less than one year.
Types of tourism
It is possible to distinguish between different types of tourism according to the tastes of travelers and the activities that can be carried out during the stay.
Shopping tourism is characterized by being organized in order to visit shopping centers and spaces where the traveler can consume while shopping.
Cultural tourism is focused on visits to museums , exhibitions, and other places typical of the place where the traveler can learn more about the history and cultural life of the place they visit.
The term rural tourism refers to any tourist activity that is located in a rural environment, near natural areas, coastlines and that allow activities related to work in the rural sector. It is a type of tourism opposite to mass tourism, which is popular in coastal cities, and requires an endogenous environment supported by a human and environmental environment. It is environmentally friendly tourism, which tries to join the rest of the tourist activities by taking advantage of local resources.
Training tourism aims to offer the traveler knowledge about a specific subject, the objective of their trip.
Gastronomic tourism aims for travelers to learn about the local foods and carry out tastings and activities related to cuisine.
Agrotourism consists of activities in rural areas where tourists stay and can participate in the activities of the place, collaborating in the restoration of farms or farmhouses.
Ecotourism is that which is carried out in natural protection environments. Local residents who receive tourists and introduce them to the space usually participate in this activity. In ecotourism, the preservation of nature has priority.
Adventure tourism consists of a series of activities that take place in a rural environment and whose objective is to offer sensations of discovery, testing the survival limits of tourists. It is carried out in spaces that have been barely exploited at the tourist level.