Tourism Principles Study Guide PDF

TOUR 110 | TOURISM PRINCIPLES 1_ WHAT IS TOURISM? Study Guide Introduction The tourism industry is a major economic and social phenomena that shapes our world today. It is recognized as a means to achieve development due to its contributions to income and employment, as well as people’s increasing...

TOUR 110 | TOURISM PRINCIPLES 1_ WHAT IS TOURISM? Study Guide Introduction The tourism industry is a major economic and social phenomena that shapes our world today. It is recognized as a means to achieve development due to its contributions to income and employment, as well as people’s increasing participation worldwide (Sharpley, 2015). This module begins with an overview of the scope of the tourism industry and its impact to the world and Philippine economies. It is followed by a discussion of what tourism is, who participates in it, and what are the different forms of tourism movement. Objectives After working on this module, you should be able to: 1. Understand the scope of the tourism industry’s impact to the world and Philippine economies; 2. Explain the technical and conceptual definitions of tourism; 3. Identify who are visitors, tourists, and excursionists; 4. Differentiate the different forms of tourism movement. 1. Overview of the Tourism Industry 1.1. International Tourism Performance In 2019, the global tourism industry marked its tenth (10th) consecutive year of sustained growth. With more affordable travel costs and lenient visa requirements among other factors, the total international tourist arrivals reached 1.46 billion people. Its total receipts amounted to USD 1.48 billion and its total export revenue to USD 1.7 trillion. International tourism ranked third among the top export industries in the world (World Tourism Organization, 2020). Source: World Tourism Organization, 2020 International travel is categorized into 5 geographical regions: Africa, Americas, Asia and the Pacific, Europe, and Middle East. Europe ranked first as the region with the most international tourist arrivals (51%), where most international tourists come from (48%), and who earns the most tourism receipts (39%). It is followed by Asia and the Pacific, Americas, Middle East, and Africa (World Tourism Organization, 2020). FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. PLEASE DO NOT SHARE OR DISTRIBUTE. 1  TOUR 110 | TOURISM PRINCIPLES Read the ‘UN World Tourism Organization’s International Tourism Highlights, 2020 Edition’. Study question: 1. On page 8, the top 10 destinations and the top 10 earners were ranked from highest to lowest. What can you observe about their distribution according to region? How about the difference in the list of countries with most arrivals and most earnings? 1.2. Philippine Tourism Performance International visitor arrivals to the Philippines was recorded at 8.26 million in 2019. South Korea was the country’s biggest market with 1.98 million arrivals, followed by China and the USA with 1.74 million and 1.06 million arrivals respectively. The identified peak months of international arrivals were February, July, and December (DOT, 2020). Source: www.tourism.gov.ph/Tourism_demand (2015-2019 Arrivals) In the 2019 aggregated ASEAN Visitor Arrival data, the Philippines ranked 6th out the 10 ASEAN members states. It lags after Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand with only a 5.78 percent share of the region’s 143.5 million arrivals (ASEANstats, 2019). In spite of its seemingly poor performance in international visitor arrivals, the Philippine tourism industry has been a large contributor to the growth of the country’s economy through the years. Estimated at 5.71 million, the share of tourism to the total employment of the Philippines in 2019 was 13.5 percent – wherein one out of every 14 Filipinos was employed in the tourism industry. It also held a 12.7 percent share in the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and has contributed PHP 2.5 trillion to the Philippine economy. While the expenditure of international visitors is recorded at only PHP 548.76 billion, the amount of domestic tourism expenditure reached PHP 3.14 trillion (Philippine Statistics Authority, 2020) that year. Source: https://data.aseanstats.org/dashboard/tourism FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. PLEASE DO NOT SHARE OR DISTRIBUTE. 2  TOUR 110 | TOURISM PRINCIPLES 2. Defining Tourism The term tourism is often associated with the words leisure and recreation. Leisure is the ‘use of free time for enjoyment’ while recreation pertains to ‘activities done for pleasure and relaxation’. While tourism is indeed an activity people engage in during their free time for enjoyment and relaxation, where it takes place and for how long they stay in it differentiates tourism from other forms of leisure and recreational activities. It has a travel component that requires a person to visit a place that is outside of their usual environment. The UNWTO defined 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’. It emphasizes the movement and purpose of people who engage in tourism in order to differentiate it with other forms of travel (Goeldner & Ritchie, 2003)(Page, 2015). However, as the scope and impact of the tourism industry grew, it became a global phenomenon. It affected the people who engaged in tourism activities, as well as the environments and communities in the places they have visited. Attempts have been made to elaborate the meaning of tourism to include the more complex nature of its elements and how they work together in delivering the tourism product experienced by people. “Tourism may be defined as the process, activities, and outcomes arising from the relationships and the interactions among tourists, tourism suppliers, host governments, host communities, and surrounding environments that are involved in the attracting and hosting of visitors.. it is a composite of activities, services, and industries that deliver a travel experience.” (Goeldner & Ritchie, 2003) Read ‘Defining Tourism’, an excerpt from Richard Sharpley’s book chapter entitled Tourism: A Vehicle for Development? (2015) Study questions: 2. For what purpose was the technical definition of tourism created for? The separation between the technical and conceptual definitions of tourism helps us understand that there are varying perspectives on how tourism is approached as an industry and as an academic discipline. Therefore, a working definition that balances both is ideal to represent the growing complexities of tourism. It intersects various sectors and disciplines of our society (conceptual) but to better grasp its impact and scope, it must be understood within the confines of an accepted standard (technical). Recently, the UNWTO updated its definition of tourism as ‘a social, cultural, and economic phenomenon which entails the movement of people to countries or places outside their usual environment for personal or business/professional purposes.’ Read ‘An Introduction to Tourism’ by John Fletcher, Alan Fyall, David Gilbert, and Stephen Wanhill (2018) 3. Tourism Movement Travel is an essential component in understanding what tourism is. In 1979, Neil Leiper proposed the highly regarded Tourism System Model to visualize how tourism movement occurs and what elements should be regarded in better understanding tourism. It is comprised of three basic elements: the traveler generating region (TGR), the tourism destination region (TDR), and the transit route region. FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. PLEASE DO NOT SHARE OR DISTRIBUTE. 3  TOUR 110 | TOURISM PRINCIPLES Source: Fletcher, J., Fyall, A., Gilbert, D., & Wanhill, S. (2018) Cooper and Hall (2009) refers to Leiper’s model as the geographical tourism system model due to other models that uses sectoral components in explaining the tourism system. Study questions: 3. What is the traveler generating region? 4. What is the tourism destination region? 5. What is the transit route region? Tourism is made possible by travel but not all types of travel can be accounted for as tourism. There are qualifications to be considered whether a person engaged in tourism or not. Furthermore, there are various forms of tourism that are categorized depending on (1) who engaged in tourism and (2) where the tourism movement took place. 3.1. Visitors: People who Engage in Tourism People who engage in tourism are often referred to as tourists. While this is true, the technical definition of UNWTO suggests that tourists are just one type of people who partake in the tourism industry. Tourists are those who stay in a place overnight while those who only visit during the day or for less than 24 hours are called excursionists. Both tourists and excursionists engage in tourism and together, they are called visitors. L ocation travelling to and staying in places outside their usual environment “Tourism comprises the activities of persons travelling to and staying in Duration not more than one consecutive year places outside their usual environment must return to place of origin for not more than one consecutive year Purpose for leisure business, and other purposes for leisure business, and other purposes.” voluntary and no remuneration Study questions: 6. Why is there a need to differentiate tourists from excursionists? 7. Why should the duration of visit not exceed one year? To differentiate visitors from other types of travelers, we need to qualify their location (where are they going?), duration (how long will they stay?), and purpose (what will they do and what for?) of travel. FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. PLEASE DO NOT SHARE OR DISTRIBUTE. 4  TOUR 110 | TOURISM PRINCIPLES 3.2. Forms of Tourism According to the UNWTO, there are three basic forms of tourism that should be distinguished in every country. These are domestic tourism, outbound tourism, and inbound tourism (Fletcher, Fyall, Gilbert, & Wanhill, 2018). They are determined using a country or a region of reference (ROR) to separate the activity of resident and non-resident visitors. INBOUND TOURISM OUTBOUND TOURISM DOMESTIC TOURISM REGION OF REFERENCE (ROR) Let’s say the Philippines is our ROR and its residents are called Filipinos. When Filipinos travel within the Philippines for tourism, they engage in domestic tourism and are counted as domestic visitors. Meanwhile, when Filipinos travel abroad or outside the Philippines for tourism, they engage in outbound tourism. In our example, Filipinos who travel to France are counted as outbound tourists of the Philippines. When non-residents or foreigners travel to the Philippines for tourism purposes, they engage in inbound tourism. Using the same illustration above, non-resident South Koreans who travel to the Philippines are counted as inbound tourists of the Philippines. To further assess the scope of tourism activities worldwide, there are three more forms or categories of tourism used: internal tourism, national tourism, and international tourism (Fletcher, Fyall, Gilbert, & Wanhill, 2018). Internal tourism pertains to all tourism activities happening in the ROR (all tourism activities of Filipinos and South Koreans travelling within the Philippines). National Tourism on the other hand pertains to all tourism activities that residents of the ROR engage in (all tourism activities of Filipinos in the Philippines and France). Lastly, International tourism is the combination of tourism activities engaged in across national borders. Statistical data in these forms of tourism helps countries assess the tourism activities of their residents, as well as the non-residents who visit them. It helps them set goals and even gives additional insights on what to prepare for to further improve their tourism industry. FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. PLEASE DO NOT SHARE OR DISTRIBUTE. 5  TOUR 110 | TOURISM PRINCIPLES References ASEANstats. (2019). ASEAN Visitor Arrivals Dashboard. Retrieved from data.aseanstats.org: https://data.aseanstats.org/dashboard/tourism Cooper, C., & Hall, C. (2008). Contemporary Tourism: An International Approach. Oxford: Elsevier. DOT. (2020, February 12). Visitor Arrivals to the Philippines by Country of Origin Jan-Dec 2019. Retrieved from tourism.gov.ph: http://www.tourism.gov.ph/Tourism_demand/Arrivals2019.pdf DOT. (2020). Visitor Arrivals FY 2019. Retrieved from tourism.gov.ph: http://www.tourism.gov.ph/industry_performance/Dec2019/Visitor_Arrivals_Report_FY2019.pdf Goeldner, C., & Ritchie, J. B. (2003). Tourism Principles, Practices, and Philosophies. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Page, S. J. (2015). Tourism Management. New York: Routledge. Philippine Statistics Authority. (2020, July 23). Online Dissemination Forum on Tourism Statistics and 2019 PTSA. Retrieved from psa.gov.ph: http://www.tourism.gov.ph/industry_performance/Dissemination_forum/2019_PTSA_Report.pdf Fletcher, J., Fyall, A., Gilbert, D., & Wanhill, S. (2018). An Introduction to Tourism. In Tourism Principles and Practice (pp. 2-11). Harlow: Pearson. Sharpley, R. (2015). Tourism: A Vehicle for Development? In R. Sharpley, & D. J. Telfer, Tourism and Development: Concepts and Issues 2nd Edition (pp. 3-30). Bristol, Buffalo, Toronto: Channel View Publications. World Tourism Organization. (2020). International Tourism Highlights, 2020 Edition. Madrid: UNWTO. FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. PLEASE DO NOT SHARE OR DISTRIBUTE. 6