Unit 1  Tourism

Text A  What is Tourism?

When we think of tourism; we think primarily of peoplewho are visiting a particular place for sightseeing, visiting friends andrelatives, taking a vacation, and having a good time. They may spend theirleisure time engaging in various sports, sunbathing, talking, singing, takingrides, touring, reading, or simply enjoying the environment. If we consider thesubject further, we may include in our definition of tourism people who areparticipating in a convention, a business conference, or some other kind ofbusiness or professional activity, as well as those who are taking a study tourunder an expert guide or doing some kind of scientific research or study.

These visitors use all forms of transportation,from hiking in a wilderness park to flying in a jet to an exciting city.Transportation can include taking a chairlift（空中缆椅）up a Colorado mountainside or standing at the railof a cruise ship looking across the blue Caribbean. Whether people travel byone of these means or by car, motorcoach, camper, train, taxi, motorbike, orbicycle, they are taking a trip and thus are engaging in tourism.

Any attempt to definetourism and to describe its scope fully must consider the various groups thatparticipate in and are affected by this industry. Their perspectives are vitalto the development of a comprehensive definition. Four different perspectivesof tourism can be identified:

1. The tourist. The touristseeks various psychic and physical experiences and satisfactions. The nature ofthese will largely determine the destinations chosen and the activitiesenjoyed.

2. The businesses providingtourist goods and services. Business people see tourism as an opportunityto make a profit by supplying the goods and services that the tourist marketdemands.

3. The government of thehost community or area. Politicians view tourism as a wealth factor in theeconomy of their jurisdictions. Their perspective is related to the incomestheir citizens can earn from this business. Politicians also consider theforeign exchange receipts from international tourism as well as the tax receiptscollected from tourist expenditures, either directly or indirectly.

4. The host community. Local people usually seetourism as a cultural and employment factor. Of importance to their group, forexample, is the effect of the interaction between large numbers ofinternational visitors and residents. This effect may be beneficial or harmful,or both.

Thus, tourism may be defined as the sum of thephenomena and relationships arising from the interaction of tourists, businesssuppliers, host governments, and host communities in the process of attractingand hosting these tourists and other visitors.

Tourism is acomposite of activities, services, and industries that delivers a travelexperience: transportation, accommodations, eating and drinking establishments,shops, entertainment, activity facilities, and other hospitality servicesavailable for individuals or groups that are traveling away from home. Itencompasses all providers of visitor and visitor-related services. Tourism isthe entire world industry of travel, hotels, transportation, and all othercomponents, including promotion, that serves the needs and wants of travelers.Finally, tourism is the sum total of tourist expenditures within the borders ofa nation or a political subdivision or a transportation-centered economic areaof contiguous states or nations. This economic concept also considers theincome multiplier of these tourist expenditures.

One has only to considerthe multidimensional aspects of tourism and its interactions with other activitiesto understand why it is difficult to come up with a meaningful definition thatwill be universally accepted. Each of the many definitions that have arisen isaimed at fitting a special situation and solving an immediate problem, and thelack of uniform definitions has hampered study of tourism as discipline.Development of a field depends on (1) uniform definitions, (2) description, (3)analysis, (4) predictions, and (5) control.

Modern tourism is a discipline that has onlyrecently attracted the attention of scholars from many fields. The majority of studies have been conducted for special purposesand have used narrow operational definitions to suit particular needs ofresearchers or government officials; these studies have got encompassed a system approach. Consequently, many definitions of“tourism” and “the tourist” are based on distance traveled, the length of timespent, and the purpose of the trip. This makes it difficult to gatherstatistical information that scholars can use to develop a database, describethe tourism phenomenon, and do analyses. The problem is not trivial. It hasbeen tackled by a number of august bodies over the years, including the Leagueof Nations, the United Nations, the World Tourism Organization (WTO), theOrganization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)（经济合作与发展组织）, the National Tourism Resources Review Commission,and the U.S. Senate’s National Tourism Policy Study.

 

• World Tourism Organization

Theinternational Conference of Travel and Tourism Statistics convened by the WorldTourism Organization (WTO) in Ottawa, Canada, in 1991, reviewed, updated, andexpanded on the work of earlier international groups. The Ottawa Conference made some fundamentalrecommendations of definitions of tourism, travelers and tourists. The UnitedNations Statistical Commission adopted WTO’S recommendations on tourismstatistics on March 4, 1993.

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• Tourism

  WTO has taken the concept of tourism beyond astereotypical image of “holiday-making”. The officially accepted definition is:“Tourism comprises the activities of persons traveling to and staying in placesoutside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year forleisure, business and other purposes.” The term “usual environment” is intendedto exclude trips within the area of usual residence and frequent and regulartrips between the domicile and the workplace and other community trips of aroutine character.

  1. International tourism:

  a. Inbound tourism: visits to a country bynonresidents.

  b. Out bound tourism: visits by residents of acountry to another country.

  2. Domestic tourism: visits by residents of acountry to their own country.

  3. Internal tourism: domestic tourism plus inboundtourism (the tourism market of accommodation facilities and attractions withina country).

  4. National tourism: domestic tourism plus outboundtourism (the resident tourism market for travel agents and airlines).

   

• Traveler Terminology for International Tourism

  Underlying the foregoing conceptualization oftourism is the overall concept of traveler, defined as “any person on a tripbetween two or more countries or between two or more localities within his/hercountry of usual residence.” All types of travelers engaged in tourism aredescribed as visitors, a term that constitutes the basic concept of the entiresystem of tourism statistics. Visitors are persons whotravel to a country other than the one in which they generally reside for aperiod not exceeding 12 months, whose main purpose is other than the exerciseof an activity remunerated from within the place visited. Visitors aresubdivided into two categories:

  1. Sameday visitors（一日游游客）: visitors who do not spend the night in acollective or private accommodation in the country visited: for example, acruise ship passenger spending four hours in a port.

  2. Tourists: Visitors who stay in the countryvisited for at least one night: for example, a visitor on a two-week vacation.

There are many purposes for a visit, notablypleasure, business, and other purposes, such as family reasons, health, andtransit. (1179 words)

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  Exercises:

  A. Read the passage and answer the followingquestions.

  1. How domost people think of tourism?

  2. What arethe four perspectives that should be considered when defining tourism?

  3. Whoprovide tourists goods and services?

  4. What doesa government of the host community or area see tourism as?

  5. What dolocal people see tourism as?

  6. Why isdifficult to come up with a universally accepted definition of tourism?

  7. What isthe World Tourism Organization’s definition of tourism?

  8. Accordingto World Tourism Organization, what are visitors? How many categories arevisitors subdivided into?

   

  B. Translate the following sentences into Chinese.

  1. Thetourist seeks various psychic and physical experiences and satisfactions. Thenature of these will largely determine the destinations chosen and theactivities enjoyed.

  2. One hasonly to consider the multidimensional aspects of tourism and its interactionswith other activities to understand why it is difficult to come up with ameaningful definition that will be universally accepted.

  3. Themajority of studies have been conducted for special purposes and have usednarrow operational definitions to suit particular needs of researchers orgovernment officials; these studies have got encompassed a systems approach.

  4. Theinternational Conference of Travel and Tourism Statistics convened by the WorldTourism Organization (WTO) in Ottawa, Canada, in 1991 reviewed, updated, andexpanded on the work of earlier international groups.

  5. Visitorsare persons who travel to a country other than the one in which they generallyreside for a period not exceeding 12 months, whose main purpose is other thanthe exercise of an activity remunerated from within the place visited.