Understanding Tourism: Types, Industry, and History

• Tourism is a social, cultural, and economic phenomenon involving people traveling outside their usual environment for personal or business reasons.

Characteristics of Tourism

• Tourism involves travel away from home.
• Travel duration can be short or prolonged.
• Journeys can be domestic or international.
• Tourism purposes include leisure or business.
• Tourism includes cultural exchange and impacts economies.
• Tourism encompasses various types like sport, nature, adventure, heritage, and wellness.

Tourism Industry

• The tourism industry includes hotels, airlines, travel agencies, restaurants, and transportation.
• Tourism is one of the world's largest industries in terms of economic impact, employment, and global GDP.
• In Canada, tourism supported approximately 623,375 direct jobs in 2022.
• The tourism industry is growing and resilient, offering current and future career opportunities.

Brief History of Tourism

• Travel, adventure, pilgrimage, and quests are central to human culture's oldest stories.
• All human cultures have traveled for economic, religious/spiritual, and entertainment purposes for thousands of years.
• The Epic of Gilgamesh, composed over 4000 years ago, highlights a king's trials and learning through adventure.
• Adventure and travel are central themes in religious texts like the Bible and Quran.
• Long-distance trade routes, such as the Silk Road and spice routes, facilitated commercial and cultural exchanges.
• Thousands traveled to festivals and events, including the ancient Olympic Games and religious pilgrimages.
• The grand tour tradition emerged for young elite Europeans in the mid-1600s to late 1800s.
• Apprenticeship travel was also common.

Recent History of Tourism post-1945

• Since 1945, tourism has experienced major growth.
• From the mid-1950s, tour operators began to change the industry with integrated services, particularly in the UK.
• Tourism has become increasingly democratized, unlike pre-1945 when international travel was mainly for the wealthy.
• Packages, all-inclusives, travel insurance, competitive pricing, and financing have made travel more accessible.

Impact of the Pandemic

• The pandemic significantly impacted the tourism industry; however, it is recovering to pre-pandemic levels.
• Labor shortages need rebalancing.
• Travel and tourism GDP is predicted to grow at an average of 5.8% per year between 2022 and 2032.
• The UN considers tourism an essential strategy for achieving the 2030 sustainable development goals.

Factors Influencing Tourism Growth

• Rising income and increased leisure time contribute to tourism growth.
• Paid holidays and more spending on leisure after the Second World War boosted travel.
• Developments in transport, like long-haul travel, and longer lifespans have increased tourism.
• Specialization within the travel industry and government support also play a role.
• More affordable travel, developing countries leveraging tourism, political changes, and advances in IT all contribute to tourism growth.

Careers in the Tourism Industry

• Tour guide
• Travel writer, vlogger, photographer, filmmaker
• Tour agency operator/travel agent
• Wilderness adventure guide/operator, park ranger

Week 3

Economic Context

• Tourism is a cluster of industries that includes hotels, airlines, travel agencies, restaurants and transportation services.
• Tourism is one of the world's largest industries in terms of economic impact.
• International tourists grew from 25 million in 1950 to 1.5 billion in 2019.
• In 2019, tourism accounted for 10.5% of all jobs and 10.4% of global GDP.
• Despite the pandemic's impact, tourism GDP is predicted to grow at an average of 5.8% per year between 2022 and 2032.

Key Terms

• International tourism involves tourism activities that cross national borders.
• Domestic tourism includes local or national tourism activities.
• Direct spending refers to tourist expenditures directly related to the purpose of travel (e.g., airfare, accommodation, tour guide).
• Indirect spending involves tourist expenditures spread over other sectors not directly related to their travel (e.g., food).

Positive Economic Impacts of Tourism

• Income creation
• Contribution to the balance of payments
• Improvement of economic structure
• Employment opportunities
• Investment and development
• Improved public utilities and infrastructure
• New business opportunities and entrepreneurship
• Women's empowerment

Negative Economic Impacts of Tourism

• Inflation and cost of living increases
• Infrastructure costs
• Competition for land with other uses
• Profit export
• Import leakages
• Tourism overdependence
• Unpaid costs

Economic Impacts of Tourism in Canada

• Economic growth and GDP contribution
• Job creation
• Foreign exchange earnings
• Regional development and infrastructure improvement
• Increase of small and medium sized businesses
• Tax revenue for governments
• Innovation and investment
• Support for agricultural sector

Week 4

Tourism Motivations

• Tourist typologies categorize different tourist motivations.
• Most typologies group tourists based on preference for particular vacation experiences in terms of personality, economics, destinations, behaviour sought.
• Understanding tourist motivations is important for tourism service design, marketing, and promotion.

Tourism Segmentation Factors

• Geography
• Socioeconomics
• Demographics
• Psychographics
• Behaviour

Tourism Segmentation & Marketing

• Segmenting tourism facilitates marketing for sellers and purchasing for consumers.
• Tourism marketing uses a blend of market segmentation techniques.
• Many tourism organizations deal with multiple segments.
• Segmentation can increase tourist satisfaction and customer experience.
• Segmentation is important for starting tourism businesses and designing products and services.
• Consumer behavior changes based on industry threats like economic instability, environmental threats, health crises, natural disasters, over-tourism, and crowding.

Tourism Types

• A tourism type is the main purpose of travel or the predominant activity engaged in by tourists or travellers.
• Both tourists and travellers engage in various tourism types.
• Some tourism is a combination of several types.
• Tourism types are market niches catering to specific tourist motivations and demand.
• Tourist motivations inform the types of tourism they engage in.

Cultural/Heritage Tourism

• Cultural/Heritage Tourism is a type of tourism where the visitor's main motivation is to learn, discover, experience, and consume the cultural attractions/products.
• Attractions/products relate to a set of distinctive material intellectual, spiritual and emotional features of a society including their lifestyles, value systems, beliefs and traditions.
• Examples include arts, museums, architecture, historical and cultural heritage, culinary heritage, literature, music and creative industries.

Adventure Tourism

• Adventure Tourism takes place in destinations with specific geographic features and landscapes.
• Associated with physical activity, cultural exchange, interaction and engagement with nature.
• May involve some kind of real/perceived risk and may require significant physical/mental effort.
• Examples include outdoor activities such as trekking, bungee jumping, rock climbing, rafting, canoeing, and kayaking.

Nature Tourism

• Nature Tourism includes activities of persons traveling to natural areas outside their usual environment for leisure.
• May involve extractive or non-extractive practices.
• Examples include bird watching, hunting, fishing, nature contemplation, and nature walks.

Ecotourism

• Ecotourism involves the visitor's essential motivation to observe, learn, discover, experience, and appreciate biological and cultrual diversity with a responsible attitude to protect the integrity of the ecosystem.
• Increases awareness towards conservation of biodiversity, the natural environment, and cultural assets among locals and visitors.
• Requires special management processes to minimize negative impact on the ecosystem.
• Examples include Inuit-led hiking experiences in Northern Canada and immersive hiking experiences in Nepal.

Sports Tourism

• Sports Tourism includes travel to either observe or participate in a sporting event generally involving commercial and non-commercial activities of a competitive nature.
• Examples include traveling to a city to observe a sports event, traveling to a city to participate in a sports event.

Wellness Tourism

• Wellness Tourism: tourists are primarily motivated to engage in preventive, proactive, lifestyle-enhancing activities that improve physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being.
• Examples include yoga retreats and spa resorts.

Education Tourism

• Education Tourism covers various forms of tourism involving learning, self-improvement, intellectual growth, and skills development.
• Examples include academic studies, skill enhancement holidays, school trips, and language courses.

Other Tourism Types/Categories

• Medical tourism
• Professional and business tourism
• Gastronomy tourism
• Rural and agricultural tourism
• Visiting friends and family
• Shopping tourism
• Resort and pilgramage
• Religion and pilgrimage
• Luxuy tourism
• Dark tourism

Week 5

Education Tourism

• Education Tourism covers various forms of tourism that involves learning, self-improvement, intellectual growth
• Examples: academic studies, skill enhancement holidays, school trips, etc.

Historical Education Tourism

• Pilgrimages of learning in the Islamic world
• The renaissance and humanistic education
• The grand tour tradition for young elite europeans in the mid 1600s to late 1800s
• Apprenticeship travel in europe

Humanistic Tourism

• Humanistic tourism is concerned with human dignity/well-being, ethics, and social justice.
• Tourists and hosts interact and have the opportunity to change social realities through mutual learning.
• Tourism & travel can be educational tools

Uses of Tourism

• Tourism and travel can be educational tools to alter and expand one's consciousness.
• Learning about other people and places through embodied, direct experiences.
• Understand social issues: reconciliation, poverty & inequality, refugee & migration, human rights, and sustainability.
• Promote world peace

Educational Outcomes of Tourism

• Language competency
• Factual knowledge
• Skill enhancement
• Existential authenticity
• Cross cultural understanding and empathy
• Human tolerance
• Short term and long term psychological changes

Practical Implications for Tourism

• Niche forms of tourism that include educational components are in demand.
• Tourism operators who offer educational components need to understands how to design for and facilitate educational outcomes.
• As a tourist, understanding desired learning outcomes can make it easier to make decisions about travel.
• Communication educational outcomes can improve tourism marketing.

Tourism involves travel away from home for leisure, business, or cultural exchange, impacting economies worldwide. The tourism industry includes hotels, airlines, and travel agencies. It is one of the world's largest industries, contributing significantly to economic growth and employment.