Meaning and Definition of Tourism

What is tourism?

Theobald (1994) suggested that etymologically, the word "tour" is derived from the Latin tornare and the Greek tornos, meaning "a lathe or circle; the movement around a central point or axis." This meaning changed in modern English to represent "one's turn." The suffix –ism is defined as "an action or process; typical behavior or quality," whereas the suffix –ist denotes one that performs a given action. When the word "tour" and the suffixes –ism and –ist are combined, they suggest the action of movement around a circle. One can argue that a circle represents a starting point, which ultimately returns back to its beginning. Therefore, like a circle, a this represents a journey that is a round trip, i.e., the act of leaving and then returning to the original starting point. Thus, one who takes such a journey can be called a tourist.

One of the earliest definitions of tourism was provided by the Austrian economist in 1910, who defined it as, “total of operators, mainly of an economic nature, which directly relate to the entry, stay and movement of foreigners inside and outside a certain country, city or a region."

Hunziker and Krapf, in 1941, 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 Tourism Society of England defined it as "Tourism is the temporary, short-term movement of people to destination 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 International Association of Scientific Experts in Tourism defined Tourism in terms of particular activities selected by choice and undertaken outside the home environment.

In 1994, the United Nations classified 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 in the given country.

· Outbound tourism, involving residents traveling in another country.