Tourism: Definition 

Tourism, the act and process of spending time away from home in pursuit of recreation, relaxation, and pleasure, while making use of the commercial provision of services. 

What is Tourism?

Although many of us have been “tourists” at some point in our lives, defining what tourism actually is can be difficult. Tourism is the activities of people traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for leisure, business or other purposes for not more than one consecutive year.

Tourism is a dynamic and competitive industry that requires the ability to adapt constantly to customers’ changing needs and desires, as the customer’s satisfaction, safety and enjoyment are particularly the focus of tourism businesses.

Tourism Encompasses:

• Outbound Tourism

Outbound tourism is what you may be most familiar with. It involves the people going from British Columbia to other provinces, territories or countries. For example, going to Hawaii for a holiday is considered outbound tourism.

• Inbound Tourism

The tourists coming to BC from other places are called inbound tourists. BC competes in a global market to attract tourists from the United States, Japan, Germany and many other countries. The industry also implements marketing campaigns aimed at attracting travellers from other parts of Canada, as well as from within British Columbia.

• Domestic Tourism

Approximately half of the tourists in BC each year are actually from within the province.  BC Stats and Destination BC consider those travelling beyond their usual environment (typically more than 80 km from home) for business or for pleasure to be tourists.

•  Tourism Sectors

There are different ways to measure the size of the tourism industry, as tourism does not conform to the usual ways that industries are defined, such as manufacturing, forestry and other industries. Tourism constitutes a wide variety of sectors that provide diverse products and services to visitors. However, these businesses also provide products and services to local residents.

Conclusions:

Tourism is a form of spending time with family, friends or even by yourself in a special place around the world you usually do not visit regulary. Tourism is also a form of a negotiation and a way to earn money, many people depend in the tourist for their income. People sell handmade products and offer services to the tourist. Tourism has many advantages for eithier the tourist as for the residents of each place.

Info. collected by Samantha Reyna

References:

• https://www.go2hr.ca/getting-know-bcs-tourism-industry/what-is-tourism
• https://www.britannica.com/topic/tourism/Day-trippers-and-domestic-tourism