Definitions of Tourism Essay Example for Free

Definitions of holidaymakerry EssayTourism is a booming persistence and a driving force in positive economical, ecological, sustainable, social and ethnic developments in several countries around the globe. Its complex nature requires sophisticated management in order to carry away its full potential. Most the great unwashed possess an intuitive and basic understanding of tourism, which focuses on an image of tribe become for recreational mappings, hitherto, tourism, goes far beyond this simplistic view. According to Stear (2005), the ara of studying tourism has an unornamented lack of substance when it comes to shaping the basic terms tourism and holidaymaker. Although the concept of tourism itself has been around for many centuries, the academic study of tourism in the tertiary educational sector is a upstart development. There is no single description of tourism to which every sensation adheres. Many translations have been used over the years, or so of which atomic number 18 universal and rouse be applied to any situation, while others fulfil a specific purpose. This essay aims to desexualise who exactly a holidaymaker is and what the term tourism means through skillful and heuristic definitions from articles written by Stear (2005), Dickman (1997), and McIntosh et al (1995).Throughout the essay definitions from organisations such as the United Nations knowledge domain Tourism Organization (UNWTO) will similarly be drawn upon. The ambiguity of two seemingly open concepts in theory who a tourist is and what tourism entails will be discussed through a telescope of academic articles, which will address and highlight the strengths, weaknesses and differences between them. The foci and boundaries of each definition will be intractable in order to assess their effectiveness. Whilst each definition is unique in their own right, there are also many similarities, which can be noted.Weaver (2010) states that the definition of touris m is dependent on the definition of the tourist and when defining whom exactly is a tourist, individuals must simultaneously meet certain spatial, unstable and purposive criteria, which will be discussed below. First and foremost, Stear (2005) defines tourism as Tourism is tour and temporary stay, involving at least one night away from the region of a persons usual base of operations that is undertaken with the major expectation of satisfying leisure needs that are perceived as being to a greater extent njoyably able to be satisfied by being at places outside of, and qualitatively different to, the ingleside region (Stear 2005, pg. 8).Stear also has a calorie-free definition of a tourist, which he refers to as A tourist is a person engaging in activities directly associated with present or future travel and temporary stay that involves at least one night away from the region of their usual home that is undertaken with the major expectation of satisfying leisure needs that a re perceived as being more(prenominal) sunnily able to be satisfied by places outside of, and qualitatively different to, the home region. (Stear 2005, pg. 11) A clear fault of Stears heuristic definitions of tourism and tourist is the limitation or restriction of the time gunpoint of at least one night away, in which Stear fails to take into account the temporal fixings of tourism. The notion of how long, if any time at totally, that must be spent away from ones usual home is an aspect, which is not uniform amongst definitions of tourism. Another weakness of Stears definitions is the limitation of the region of a persons usual home, which implies that physically moving away from your home would make you a tourist.According to the UNWTO (cited in Weaver, 2010), for an individual to qualify as a tourist travel must fall beyond the individuals usual environment. The spatial boundary of tourism as discussed by Weaver (2010) is unclear in this instance as an individual who lives i n Sydney but waistcloth in Canberra during the week for work would then be considered a tourist under this definition. Whilst Stears (2005) definition states a minimum stay requirement to be considered a tourist, it does not state a maximum timeframe, unlike that of other definitions, which clearly state a maximum period of time before soulfulness loses the title of tourist.The UNWTO (1995) provides a more technical definition and defines tourism as an individual travelling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, commercial enterprise and other purposes. This definition is broader in scope compared to Stears (2005), which specifies that an individual who travels is only a tourist when their travel is undertaken with the major expectation of satisfying leisure needs. The UNWTO definition (cited in Weaver, 2010) is complemented by Dickmans (1997, pg. 7) who identifies a tourist as a visitor who travels to a plac e utside his/her usual environment for at least one night but no more than six months (domestic) or one year (international) and whose main purpose of visit is other than the exercise of an activity remunerated from within the place visited and tourism as a non-essential activity, or one that is predominantly related to leisure activities (Dickman, 1997 pg. 7). Compared to Stears (2005) definition of tourism, Dickmans (1997) heuristic definition is very brief and extremely vague as spatial relevance and time period are some(prenominal) not addressed.Furthermore, Dickmans (1997) definition is limited as it only refers to the activity side of tourism whereas Leiper (2004) discusses a basic tourism system involving the tourist, the generating region, the transit route, the destination and the movement in between. Despite this limitation, a major strength of Dickmans (1997) definition is that it defines and takes into consideration the differences between domestic and international tou rists.This comparison has also been addressed by Weaver (2010) who declares that a domestic tourist is one that travels within their own acres of residence, whilst an international tourist travels outside their usual country of residence. The third and final authors McIntosh et al. (1995) describes tourism as the consummate world industry of travel, hotels, transportations, and all other components, including promotion, that treats the needs and wants of travellers. Tourism like a shot has been given new heart and is primary a term of economics referring to the industry.On the other hand, tourist is defined as a person who travels from place to place for non work reasons by U. N. definition, a tourist is someone who stays for more than one night and less than a year. Business and convention travel is included. This thinking is dominated by balance-of-trade concepts. Military personnel, diplomats, immigrants and resident students are not tourists (McIntosh et al. , 1995). The h euristic definition above of tourism incorporates the industry as a whole, which is a major strength in comparison to the other definitions, hich only take into account the physical act of travelling.The tourism industry is not identifiable as a prototype industry but is rather an amalgamation of trips of other conventional industries such as retail, hospitality, accommodation, diversion and transport (Weaver, 2010). The incorporation of tourism as an industry takes on a different approach to defining tourism and makes finding a clarified and universal meaning for tourism and tourist even more complicated. McIntosh et al. 1995) refer to the tourist in a very specific manner including different types of tourists such as business tourists, which is a strong point, as a tourist cant be tho defined in one aspect.According to Weaver (2010), a basic tourist criterion concerns travel purpose which is dominated by three major categories leisure and recreation, visiting friends and rela tive and business. Compared to Stear (2005) and Dickmans (1997) differentiate definitions, McIntosh et al. (1995) have a much broader, flexible view on defining tourism and the tourist. In both definitions of tourist Dickman (1997) and McIntosh et al. 1995) describe an individual moving out of their usual environment, which is considered a key particle in the definition. Weaver (2010) supports this definition in his discussion of fulfilling the spatial component in order to be considered a tourist. Whilst this is considered a highly subjective concept, many tourism bodies specify minimum distance thresholds, which serve the useful purpose of differentiating those who bring outside revenue into the local area from those who circulate revenue internally (Weaver, 2010, pg. 22-23).When reviewing the definition by McIntosh et al. 1995), a key downfall is the reference to resident students not being considered tourists, which can be questioned. An international student may wish to trav el overseas first to experience the burnish of the country they plan on studying in, however under this definition, even if they wish to take part in and visit tourist attractions which are recreational and leisure based they arent considered tourists. Most people do not intuitively associate study or formal education with tourism however it is considered a qualifying criterion by the UNWTO.In Australia alone, in 2007-08 international students accounted for around 7% of all inbound arrivals (Weaver, 2010, pg. 29). In conclusion, the complicated task of defining two simple terms tourism and tourist has been made somewhat clearer through the definitions provided by Stear (2005), Dickman (1997) and McIntosh et al. (1995). Whilst all three authors have different perspectives on how to define these terms, they also have a few aspects that seem to cross over.Considering all the definitions by the three authors Stear (2005), Dickman (1997) and McIntosh et al. 1995) it is leaden to argue which definition is more just and accurate than the other as they all have their strengths and weaknesses. From the look for conducted, Stears (2005) definition of a tourist is the most flexible and relevant in the context of todays society however Dickmans (1997) definition of tourism is most accurate as it incorporates the absolute tourism industry and not just the physical act of traveling. Ultimately, tourist and tourism are unpronounceable as we all have our own personal views and perspectives on which definitions fit the context of the situation.