UNIT 1: INTRODUCTION TO TOURISM

Over the last few decades, tourism has experienced continued growth and increased
diversification becoming one of the fastest developing economic sectors in the world.
High growth and increased diversification have turned tourism into a key driver for
socio-economic progress in nations worldwide. Today, tourism is one of the major
sectors in international trade and one of the main wealth creators for many developing
countries. Tourism means jobs, poverty eradication, gender equality, and the
protection and promotion of our natural and cultural heritage. Tourism is a major
activity supporting an economic sector that is responsible for 9% of global GDP. In
recent years it has seen significant growth, which is forecast to continue, especially in
developing countries which have seen a rate of increase in visitor arrivals that
considerably exceeds the world average. Tourism accounts for 29% of exports in
services worldwide and for many developing countries it provides a significant, and
sometimes the primary, source of foreign exchange earnings (United Nations World
Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), 2013). Today, the business volume of tourism equals
or even surpasses that of oil exports, food products or automobiles. Tourism has
become one of the major players in global commerce and represents at the same time
one of the main income sources for many developing countries. This growth goes hand
in hand with an increasing diversification and competition between major destinations.

Academic studies have confirmed the contribution of the sector to economic growth
and many international bodies, conventions and communications have formally
recognised the importance of the sector as a driver of sustainable development. Over
the last fifty years tourism has become one of the largest economic sectors globally,
accounting for some 9% of the world’s GDP and over 200 million jobs. International
tourist arrivals have grown steadily over many years and in 2012 stood at 1035 million.
In the last ten years, this growth has been particularly marked in the emerging
economies, where it has averaged 5.6% per annum, compared with 1.8% for
advanced economies. UNWTO predicts that growth trends in world tourism will
continue, with total arrivals reaching 1.8 billion by 2030. Emerging economies,
including developing countries, such as South Africa, stand to see the highest rate of
growth. Tourism accounts for a significant proportion of world trade. Significantly,
tourism makes up a major proportion of exports in services- accounting for 29%
worldwide and as much as 52% for Least Developed Countries (LDCs). In 2012,
international tourists spent US$386 billion in emerging market and developing
countries, over five times the level of official development assistance which goes to
these countries. It is one of their main and key sources of foreign exchange earnings.

In recent years, tourism has seen high growth, which is forecast to continue, especially
in developing countries which have seen a rate of increase in visitor arrivals that
considerably exceeds the world average. The global spread of tourism in industrialised
and developed states has produced economic and employment benefits in many
related sectors-from construction to agriculture or telecommunications. The growth of
international tourism has been largely underpinned by, on the one hand, increasing
wealth, particularly in emerging economies, and, on the other hand, a neo-liberal
agenda that has facilitated the expansion of the travel and tourism sector (Fletcher,
2011). Newer destinations have been developed whilst established destinations are,
for the most part, attracting ever-increasing numbers of tourists. Of the 217 nation

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states listed in the UNWTO’s international tourism statistics for 2017, 108 (that is, half
of all national destinations) received more than one million tourists that year; of these,
73 attracted more than three million tourists and 35 more than ten million tourists
(extrapolated from UNWTO, 2018). Tourism has been identified as a promising
economic sector through which to develop poverty alleviation strategies thanks to
some persuasive statistics. In the face of threats and shocks which impact on global
economic development-including terrorist incidents, natural disasters, and political
instability- tourism as a sector continues to grow, outpacing general growth of the
global economy. Travel and Tourism generated over 10 per cent of global GDP in 2016
and provided 292 million jobs (i.e., one in every 10 jobs); tourism growth supported
an additional 6 million jobs in the sector in 2016 alone (World Travel & Tourism Council,
2017). Developing countries have a market share of over 40 per cent of worldwide
international tourism arrivals, up from 34 per cent in 2000 (UNWTO, 2007:4). Twenty
of the world’s Least Developed Countries can count tourism as their first or second
source of export earnings, and many small island developing states get over a quarter
of their GDP from the tourism industry (UNWTO, 2018). As a sector, tourism is also
seen as a strong performer when compared with many other sectors; for example, 20
years of data revealed that the real value of primary product exports from the South
Pacific had declined and “the only sector to demonstrate a continuous upward trend
has been tourism” (Sofield, Bauer, De Lacy, Lipman & Daugherty, 2004:25). As a
scholar of tourism and hospitality, it is vital to understand the contributions of the
sector to sustainable development at local, regional, national, and international levels.

AN OVERVIEW AND IMPORTANCE OF THE TOURISM SECTOR TO SOUTH AFRICA

In South Africa, the government has assigned tourism as one of the country’s key
sectors with the excellent potential for growth. The South African government has
recognised the tourism sector’s potential to bring about economic growth and
employment creation. This is evident from the creation of a standalone National
Department of Tourism and the strengthening of the tourism portfolio. It is further
supported by tourism’s positioning as one of the six core pillars of growth in the
country’s New Growth Path framework. Moreover, the Industrial Policy Action Plan
(IPAP2) identified the sector as one of the areas expected to strongly contribute to
the development of marginal rural areas and the key culture industries, among others.
The tourism industry in South Africa has grown considerably since the country’s first
democratic elections in 1994. The number of foreign visitor arrivals increased from
just more than 3 million in 1993 to over 9,9 million in 2009 of which, just over 7 million
were tourists. Foreign visitor arrivals for the period January to November 2010 was
10.3 million of which 7.3 million were tourists. The African continent is the largest
source of foreign visitor arrivals, and the region contributed an additional 414 294
visitor arrivals in 2009 – a growth of 5, 6% since 2008. The tourism sector is not only
a multifaceted industry that contributes to a variety of economic sectors, but also a
labour-intensive industry with the capacity to create jobs. Tourism is a priority and
key economic sector in the government’s Medium-Term Strategic Framework MTSF).

The travel and tourism industry in South Africa, like everywhere in the world, has
suffered from the adverse impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19
pandemic is much more than a health crisis, it's also an unprecedented socio-economic
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crisis, stressing every one of the countries it touches, it has the potential to create
distressing social, economic, and political effects that will leave deep and longstanding
scars. The COVID-19 pandemic crisis was devastating in its impacts on travel and
tourism, as well as the hospitality, arts and events affiliated sectors. In the wake of
the coronavirus pandemic, few industries have fallen as far and as fast as tourism.
Every day, people are losing jobs and income, with no way of knowing when normality
will return. Developing countries such as South Africa, heavily dependent on tourism,
suffered empty hotels, deserted beaches and low scale domestic travel and tourism.

Pandemics and new diseases have long had a transformational effect on environments
and societies. Despite the adverse impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, scholars
believe the overall recovery of tourist numbers will primarily be determined by the
interplay of economic and health interventions that include travel restrictions. It is
important to note that global tourism has been exposed to a wide range of crises in
the past. Between 2000 and 2015, major disruptive events include the September 11
terrorist attacks (2001), the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak
(2003), the global economic crisis unfolding in 2008/2009, and the 2015 Middle East
Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreak. This would suggest that tourism as a system
has been resilient to external shocks. However, there is much evidence that the impact
and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic will be unprecedented. Many scholars hold
that travel and tourism sector will ultimately emerge as an important and resilient
social and economic development tool. The government of South Africa has identified
tourism as a key social and economic sector due to the following points about tourism:
1. Tourism represents a significant opportunity for growth in tourism and related job
creation in South Africa. It employs 212 million people worldwide, generating $3;
4 trillion in world gross output and contributes $655 billion to government tax
revenues making it the world’s largest industry. South Africa has earmarked
tourism as a key sector with excellent potential for growth: the government aims
to increase tourism’s contribution both direct and indirectly to the economy by
R499-billion in 2020 (National Department of Tourism, 2012). Tourism supports
one in every 12 jobs in South Africa.
2. Tourism is a foreign exchange generator, and this contributes to the gross
domestic product (GDP) and has the potential to uplift the living standard of many
South Africans.
3. Tourism can provide immediate employment to local people that live within
proximity to already established resorts and attractions.
4. Tourism is a labour-intensive industry and has the lowest ratio of investment to
job creation.
5. Tourism employs a multiplicity of skills.
6. The tourism industry creates entrepreneurial opportunities and incorporates a
thriving and dynamic informal sector. Tourism offers entrepreneurial opportunities:
The industry creates a variety of opportunities for potential entrepreneurs.
7. Tourism brings development to rural areas rather than encouraging migration to
the cities.
8. Tourism builds cross-cultural relations and is a vital force for peace.
9. Tourism is a final product in that the value added in the final stages of production
is created in South Africa. Tourism brings a ready market of over four million
regional and overseas visitors annually.
10. Tourism has the potential to influence visitor tastes and create permanent export
markets. The demand for tourism is continuous as people travel at all ages during

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 their life. Tourism has the potential to generate demand and production in other
sectors of the South African economy.
11. Tourism develops infra and superstructures: as the demand for more products and
structures is created, it offers the opportunity for more and better infrastructures
to be provide, for example roads, water, electricity supply. Superstructures are
those infrastructures which are necessary to meet the tourist’s needs and to create
a great experience for example hotels, entertainment centres, and parking
facilities.
12. Tourism stimulates other trades: Because tourism cannot easily be confined, it can
lead to other sectors being stimulated, such as industry, agriculture, and mining.
13. Tourism broadens education: When a tourist travels to different destinations,
he/she learns about new cultures, people, places, and other aspects of the
destination.
14. Tourism promotes international peace. People travelling to different destinations
promote peace precisely because they would like to see more places and meet
more people.
15. Tourism breaks down racial and cultural barriers: The barriers of ignorance, where
people from different cultures do not understand each other, often due to
unfamiliarity, can be broken down by tourism.
16. Tourism reinforces preservation of heritage and traditions: Cultural tourism and
heritage tourism acknowledges the fact that heritage and traditions should be
preserved. It increases awareness of these aspects and of their values.
17. Tourism builds national pride: This happens, for instance, when tourists come from
countries that do not have products which South Africa offers, or when the country
achieves a special in a specific area, for example in sport.
18. Tourism enhances an appreciation of cultural traditions: The process of making
people aware of their heritage and traditions enhances appreciation of these
traditions.
19. Travel and tourism make up the largest service industry in the world and it
continues to grow. This industry stimulates Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth
in host countries and contributes substantially to government tax revenues. Worth
USD7.6 trillion dollars, the travel and tourism sector accounts for more than 10%
of global GDP and represents 7% of all international trade and 30% of the world’s
export in services. Countries such as South Africa stand to benefit from global
tourism industry growth.
20. In pre-COVID-19 era, tourism and hospitality used be the second fastest-growing
industry in terms of foreign direct investment (FDI) attraction, only surpassed by
communications services. Tourism used to be a large contributor to FDI,
considered a priority by most investment-promotion agencies for stimulating
widespread economic development. South Africa has benefited from tourism
stimulated foreign direct investment (FDI).
21. Drives infrastructure development. Tourism sector development often results in
improvements in basic infrastructure, such as airports, roads, water supply,
energy, medical services, mobile phone networks, and health and safety services
that are enjoyed by tourists and locals alike.
22. Creates employment efficiently. World Bank research in 2017 showed that
employment is the surest pathway out of poverty. Tourism employs 292 million
people worldwide, which means that one in every ten jobs is related to tourism. In

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 Africa, between 2000 and 2014, the number of jobs attributable to the tourism
sector nearly doubled from 11.6 million to 20.5 million, which represents 8.1% of
total employment in the region. Consequently, targeting sectors like tourism that
are efficient and effective job creators, is an ideal way to direct development funds.
23. Promotion of inclusive growth. Inclusive growth is broad-based and allows a wide
range of a country’s labour force to participate. Tourism has a wide supply chain,
which includes transport providers, cultural interpreters, accommodation, food and
beverage suppliers, agriculture producers, energy and water supply, attractions,
events, souvenirs, cultural heritage, arts and crafts, microbusinesses, and
construction and maintenance workers. Because of this, tourism has the potential
to reach and benefit large numbers of people. Several studies have highlighted the
multiplier effect of tourism in local economies, and its broad employment in middle-
and high-income countries.
24. Strengthens rural communities. From a policy perspective, rural tourism is about
economic diversification: creating jobs for rural youth, ethnic minorities, women,
and marginalized people; alleviating poverty; and preserving heritage and culture.
25. Revitalises urban areas. Improving the competitiveness of cities is an increasingly
important pathway to ending extreme poverty. By 2050, the urban population will
rise to 66%, or six billion people, with growth concentrated in Asia and Africa.
Many cities will continue to pursue tourism-based urban regeneration for its
potential to create jobs, improve infrastructure, and attract investments.
26. Bolsters artisans. Artisans benefit from selling goods to tourists, and eventually the
world. The global market for artisan crafts is significant and continues to expand
world exports of artisan products rose from a value of USD17.5 billion in 2002 to
USD32 billion in 2008, an increase of 87%.51 According to the Creative Economy
Report 2008, arts and crafts is the only creative industry where developing
countries have a leading position in the global market, generating 65% of all
artisanal revenues.
27. Facilitates conservation. Nature-based tourism is in high demand, which not only
increases the value placed on unspoiled nature and wildlife, but it also generates
funds used for conservation. In the South African National Parks, tourism
concessions generated USD58 million between 2002 and 2012.The economic
impact of nature-based tourism motivates local people to play an active role in
nature/biodiversity conservation and prevent poaching.
28. Tourism raises climate change awareness. Tourism is often an innovator of
sustainable consumption and production, and climate change awareness. There
are many examples of tourism resorts introducing wind and solar power, organic
farming, and sustainable fisheries to communities that would not otherwise be
exposed to these environmental advances.
29. Tourism propels the blue economy. The Blue Economy is now understood as use
of the sea and its resources for sustainable economic development. Tourism is a
key driver of the blue economy, helping to increase the value of marine
conservation.
30. Provides funding for the preservation of cultural heritage. Tourism plays an
important role in cultural heritage management, funding, and protection. Cultural
tourism is an important tourism segment, and visitor spending on entrance tickets,
guides and souvenirs contributes to capital needed for the protection of important

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 sites. Intangible cultural heritage, music, performing arts, and oral traditions can
also be revived or protected by tourism.
31. Mutual Understanding, Peace, and Security. Tourism fosters peace, intercultural
understanding, and global citizenship. Meeting diverse peoples and experiencing
other cultures play a critical role in reducing stereotypes and promoting peace,
security, and intercultural understanding.

DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES ON THE STUDY OF TOURISM

Tourism commonly is approached through a variety of methods. However, there is

little or no agreement on how the study of tourism should be undertaken. The
following are several methods that have been used.
1. Geographical Perspective: From a geographer’s perspective the main concern
of tourism is to investigate aspects like the geographical location of a place, the
climate, the landscape, the environment, the physical planning, and the changes
in these emerging from provisioning of tourism facilities and amenities. A
geographer feels that it is the climate, landscape or physical attributes which draw
the tourist to a destination, for example, if a person from United Kingdom goes to
Durban in the winter, he does so because of the warmer climate which he cannot
get in the United Kingdom. The geographer’s approach to tourism sheds light on
the location of tourist areas, the movements of people created by tourism locales,
the changes that tourism brings to the landscape in the form of tourism facilities,
dispersion of tourism development, physical planning, and economic, social, and
cultural problems.
2. Sociological Perspective: From a sociologist’s perspective tourism is a social
activity; it is about interaction between different communities, hosts, and guests
as well as encounter between different cultures. This approach studies social
classes, habits and customs of both hosts and guests in terms of tourism behaviour
of individuals or groups of people and the impact of tourism on society. As tourism
continues to make a massive impact on society, it will be studied more and more
from a social point of view.
3. Historical Perspective: From an historian’s perspective tourism is a study of the
factors instrumental in the initiation of tourism to a particular destination, the order
of happenings leading to tourism development, the reasons for happening of the
occurrences in that order, beneficiaries of the tourist activity and an untimely and
premature identification of negative effects. For example, we all know that a lot of
tourists visit the Robben Island in Cape Town, but a historian would be interested
in studying the factors that bring the tourist there, for example the architecture,
the story behind the monument, or something else that draws them there.
4. Managerial Perspective: From the management perspective tourism is an
industry, and therefore needs managerial skills to be properly managed. As the
industry grows, we see continuous changes in various organisations and services
linked with the industry, the tourism products and so on so this approach
concentrates on management activities such as planning, research, pricing,
marketing, and control as vital to the operation of a tourist establishment.
5. Economic Perspective: Because of its importance to both domestic and world
economics, tourism has been examined closely by economists, who focus on

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 supply, demand, balance of payments, foreign exchange, employment,
expenditures, development, multipliers, and other economic factors. This approach
is useful in providing a framework for analysing tourism and its contributions to a
country’s economy and economic development. From an economist’s perspective
tourism is a major source of foreign exchange earnings, a generator of personal
and corporate incomes, a creator of employment and a contributor to government
earnings. It is a key global activity surpassing even trade in oil and manufactured
goods. Economists study the effects of tourism industry on the economy and the
effects of the economy on tourism industry operations. This is a two-way process.

TEACHING OF TOURISM IN SOUTH AFRICAN SCHOOLS

In South Africa we teach Tourism in Grades 10-12. The study of Tourism amongst our
youth is important for five reasons:
1. It develops in learners an awareness of the value that tourism brings to the local
economy.
2. It develops critical thinking and scholarship.
3. It enables learners to make an informed career choice in the field of tourism.
4. It encourages learners to begin identifying entrepreneurial opportunities for
themselves.
5. It ensures that learners become better users of the tourism product, for example
by getting involved in community development programmes that are related to
tourism.
6. It ensures that all citizens are responsible for conservation of resources and
sustainable practices and are welcoming to visitors as they appreciate the value of
tourism.

TRAVEL AND TOURISM AS AN INTEGRATED DISCIPLINE

Tourism embraces nearly all aspects of our society. Apart from its importance to
economic changes, human socio-cultural activities and environmental development,
tourism is related to other academic subjects such as geography, economics, history,
languages, psychology, marketing, business, and law. Consequently, it is necessary to
integrate several subjects to study tourism. For example, subjects such as history and
geography help us understand more about the development of the historical and
geographical resources of a tourist destination. Besides, subjects like marketing and
business mainly help us understand the promotion and marketing of tourism products.

Tourism is a complex field of study because it includes a variety of disciplines which

are either directly or indirectly related to the understanding of tourism. The study of
information technology enhances our understanding of the importance of the global
distribution system and its effect on tourism business. The study of religion and culture
provides information on the cultural resources of a destination and opportunities to
develop it as a cultural destination. Tourism is so vast, so complex, and so multifaceted
that there is a wide range of subjects related to tourism as illustrated in the diagram.

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DEFINITIONS OF TOURISM
Before one can deal with issues relating to tourism and hospitality management, it is
important to understand the underlying concepts and definitions. It is sensible first to
define what is meant by the term tourism as well as the various concepts related to
the term. Tourism is not a new concept, as evidence exists that people have been
travelling for various reasons since ancient times. However, only in recent times has
tourism become the field of study and a discipline. Tourism is a phenomenon with no
universally accepted definition, owing to the complexity and individualism of the
travellers themselves and the activities that they choose to undertake. Importantly,
no definition of tourism is universally accepted; many scholars have defined tourism
in different ways. Here are some important definitions that have been propounded by
different, agencies, scholars and associations involved in tourism:
1. Tourism is the temporary, short-term movement of people to destinations outside
the places where they normally live and work and activities during their stay at
each destination: It includes movement for all purposes. (Tourism Society of
England, 1976).
2. Morrison and Mill [1992:9] define tourism as an activity that occurs when a tourist
travels, this encompasses everything from planning the trip to the place, the stay
itself, the return and the reminiscent about it afterwards. It includes the activities
that traveller undertakes, the interaction that occurs between host and guest. In
sum it’s all the activities and impacts that occur when a visitor travels.

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3. Tourism is the movement of people from the source market to destinations for at
least 24 hours but for less than a year for various reasons like leisure, business,
religion and visiting friends and relatives.
4. Tourism is sum total of operators, mainly of an economic nature, which directly
relate to entry, stay and movement of foreigners inside and outside a certain
country, city, or region (Schullard, 2008).
5. Tourism is the study of man away from his usual habitat, of the industry which
responds to his needs, and of the impacts that both he and the industry have on
the host’s socio-cultural, economic, and physical environment. (Jafari, 1977).
6. Tourism is the sum of phenomena and relationships arising from the interaction of
tourists, business suppliers, host governments, and host communities in the
process of attracting and hosting these tourists and other visitors. (Goeldner et al,
2000).
7. Tourism is the sum of the phenomena and relationships arising from the travel and
stay of non-residents in so far as they do not lead to permanent residence and are
not connected to any earning activity (Hunziker & Krapf, 1992)
8. Tourism comprises 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 (World Tourism Organisation (WTO)
9. Tourism is the sum of the relations and phenomena which result from travelling
and visiting an area by non-residents, in so far as they do not lead to permanent
residence and are not connected with any earning activity. (Burkart and Medlik,
1981).
10. Tourism is the temporary movement of people to destinations outside their normal
places of work and residence, the activities undertaken during their stay in those
destinations, and the facilities created to cater for their needs (Mathieson & Wall,
1982:1).
11. Tourism is "the sum of the phenomena and relationships arising from the travel
and stay of non-residents, insofar as they do not lead to permanent and are not
connected with any earning activity.
12. Tourism is 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. These people are called visitors (which
may be either tourists or excursionists; residents or non-residents) and tourism
has to do with their activities, some of which involve tourism expenditure (UWTO,
2008:1).
13. Tourism can be described as the total experience that originates from the
interaction between tourists, job providers, government systems and communities
in the process of providing attractions, entertainment, transport, and
accommodation to the tourists (Saayman, 2013:3).

IMPLICATIONS / CHARACTERISTICS OF TOURISM IDENTIFIED FROM THE

DEFINITIONS

Tourism necessarily includes the movement of people. This could refer to the
movement of either domestic or foreign tourists. Domestic movement includes
movement within boundaries of a specific country, while foreign movement is outside

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the boundaries of a country. The concepts that usually appear in definitions of tourism
include tourists, attractions; accommodation and catering; forms of transport; a host
community; entertainment; the three levels of government that are involved in some
way; and the fact that tourism implies an experience-the most important aspect. It is
practically impossible to provide an all-embracing definition of a tourist, for there are
many aspects that are not catered for in each of the definitions that are currently
used. Most definitions include the following:
1. Tourism arises from a movement of people to, and their stay in, various
destinations.
2. There are two elements in all tourism: the journey to the destination and the stay
including activities at the destination.
3. Tourism is a social, cultural, and economic activity.
4. The journey and the stay take place outside the usual place of residence and work,
so that tourism gives rise to activities, which are distinct from those of the resident
and the working population of the places, through which the tourist travels and in
which they stay.
5. The movement to destinations is of temporary, short-term character, with the
intention of returning to the usual environment within a few days, weeks, or
months.
6. Destinations are visited for purposes other than taking up permanent residence or
employment remunerated from within the places visited.
7. The activities and impacts of tourists take place at the destination.
8. All Tourism involves travel, but all travel is not tourism (Commuter or Regular local
travel).
9. The journey and stay should take place outside the normal place of residence and
work.

The above aspects can be considered as the essence of tourism. Saayman (2013:5)
advocates the inclusion of other aspects, such as the quality service component;
financial implications; new relationships; a variety of processes; and a study of human
behaviour in the definition of tourism. Most definitions of tourism include the
repercussions for the economy, the natural and built environment, the host population,
and tourists themselves.

WHAT IS A TOURIST?

Just like tourism, it is practically impossible to provide an all-embracing definition of a

tourist, for there are many aspects that are not catered for in each of the definitions
that are currently used.

1. A tourist is a temporary visitor staying at least twenty-four hours in the country

visited and the purpose of whose journey can be classified under the following
headings: (i) leisure: recreation, holiday, health, study, religion, and sport (ii)
Business, family, mission, and meetings.

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2. A tourist is a person who travels from place to place for normal reasons; spends
money while he/she travels; and stays more than one night, but less than a year,
including business trips.

From the above definitions we can deduce the following:

3. A tourist is a person who contributes an economic input with regard to any area
other than that in which they generally live and that a tourist is a person who
voluntarily visits a place away from their normal area of residence for a period of
at least 24 hours. A tourist is a temporary visitor staying at least twenty-four hours
in the country visited and the purpose of whose journey can be classified under
the following headings: (i) leisure: recreation, holiday, health, study, religion and
sport (ii) Business, family, mission and meetings.
• In the broad definitions of tourism, the determining criteria are:
1. Reasons for travelling. 4. Group size
2. Length of stay 5. Method of travelling.
3. Place of origin
Tourists, as a group, may be further subdivided into foreign and domestic tourists,
and inbound and outbound tourists.
1. Domestic or local (national tourists): This refers to local inhabitants who visits a
country other than his/her home country for a period of at least 24 hours. A person
who travels within the country he is residing in, outside the place of his usual
environment for a period not exceeding 12 months.
2. Foreign or international tourist: A person who travels to a country other than the
one in which he has his usual residence for a period not exceeding 12 months.
This is any person who visits a country other than theirs for a period of at least 24
hours.
3. Excursionist (day visitors): is a person who temporarily visits a destination and
stays for less than 24 hours, for the purpose of leisure or business, but not for
transit. Excursionists are, in essence, day visitors and thus are not tourists.
4. Inbound and outbound tourists: Another important classification would be that of
inbound and outbound tourists.
• Inbound tourist: involves non-residents traveling in the given country. For
example, when an American citizen, Mr Sam comes to South Africa to see the
Table Mountain he is an inbound tourist for South Africa.
• Outbound tourists: involves residents of a country traveling in another country.
For example, when a South African citizen, Mr Ram goes to America to see
Hollywood, he is an outbound tourist for South Africa.

The following groups are however, not regarded as tourists for the sake of tourism
statistics:
1. Border workers and transit passengers.
2. Nomads.
3. Refugees (As defined by the United Nations Commission on Refugees)
4. Members of armed forces.
5. Diplomats and Representation of consulates.
6. Permanent immigrants and temporary immigrants.

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The principal character in the phenomenon called tourism is the ‘tourist’ and without
his being around the tourism phenomenon is meaningless. The term Tourist is believed
to have been derived from the Latin word ‘TORNUS’ which means a tool, a circle or a
turner’s wheel. In the sense of the word, a tourist is a person who undertakes a circular

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trip, that is, ultimately comes back to the place from where he sets about his journey.
Based on the definitions of a tourist here are some of the characteristics of a tourist:
• He takes up his journey of his own free will and returns to his original starting
point.
• He takes up the journey primarily in search of enjoyment.
• The money spent on the visit is the money derived from home, not money earned
in the places of visit.

OTHER IMPORTANT TOURISM CONCEPTS

• Internal tourism: Internal tourism comprises domestic tourism and inbound
tourism, that is to say, the activities of resident and non-resident visitors within
the country of reference as part of domestic or international tourism trips.
• International tourism: International tourism comprises inbound tourism and
outbound tourism, that is to say, the activities of resident visitors outside the
country of reference, either as part of domestic or outbound tourism trips and the
activities of non-resident visitors within the country of reference on inbound
tourism trips.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TRAVEL AND TOURISM

Though the words travel, and tourism are synonymised and used interchangeably but
tourism is a wider concept and encompasses a lot more than travel alone. travel
implies journeys undertaken from one place to another for any purpose including
journeys to work and as a part of employment, as a part of leisure and to take up
residence, whereas tourism includes the journey to a destination and the stay at a
destination outside one’s usual place of residence and the activities undertaken for
leisure and recreation. All tourism includes some travel, but not all travel is tourism. A
person may often travel for a wide variety of purposes of which tourism is only one.

THE TOURISM SYSTEM

The Tourism system is one of the models used to understand Tourism. Models are
used to demonstrate a conceptual framework, the way in which ideas concerning a
particular phenomenon are related to each other. They can also have an active role,
as in forecasting future situations. All models display connected elements so that it is
possible to appreciate relationships and what is likely to happen if a change occurs to
one or more elements. A model of the tourism system is an example. A system is an
assemblage or combination of things or parts forming a complex or unitary whole. The
tourism system is fundamental to the study of tourism, and it’s made up of elements
that are very essential, and the elements are the building blocks of the system.

THE TOURISM SYSTEM LEIPER (1995)

Tourism system model was suggested by Leiper in 1979. The model considers many
issues related to tourism, tourist activities and allowing industry sectors to be located
and providing the geographic element which is inherent to all travel.

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BASIC ELEMENTS OF LEIPER’S MODEL
1. Tourists. The tourist is the actor in this system. Tourism, after all, is a human
experience, enjoyed anticipated and remembered by many as a very important
aspect of their lives.
2. The geographic elements. Leiper outlines three geographic elements in his model.
A. Traveller generating region (TGR): where a tourist comes from.
B. Tourist destination region (TDR): to which the tourist intends to travel.
C. Transit route region (TRR)-through which the tourist must pass to reach
destination.
A: Traveller Generating Region (TGR): The traveller-generating region represents
the generating market for tourism, and in the sense provides the push to stimulate or
motivate travel. It is here that the tourist destination searches for information, makes
bookings and makes the departure.
B: Tourist Destination Region (TDR: Tourist destination region represents the
sharp end of tourism. At the destination, the full impact of tourism is felt and planning
and management strategies are implemented. The destination is the raison d’être for
tourism. The ‘pull’ to visit destinations energizes the whole tourism system and creates
demand for travel in the generating region. It is in the destination where most
dramatic and noticeable consequences of the system occur.
C: Transit Route Region (TTR): The transit region represents not only the short
period of travel to reach the destination, but also the intermediate places which maybe
visited enroute: there is always an interval in a trip when a traveller feels they have
left their home region but have not yet arrived where they choose to visit.
3. THE TOURISM INDUSTRY
The third element of Leiper’s model is the tourism industry, which we can think of as
the range of businesses and organisations involved in the delivering the tourism
product. The model allows the location of the various industrial sectors to be identified.
For example, the travel agents and tour operators are predominantly found in the
traveller generating region, attractions and the hospitality industry are found in the
destination region, while transport industry is in the transit route region. NB: each of
the elements of Leiper’s tourist system interacts with the others, not only to deliver
the tourism product, but also in terms of transactions and impacts of tourism.
“THE TOURISM SYSTEM”

Source: Leiper (1995)

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IMPLICATIONS OF THE TOURISM SYSTEM DIAGRAM
• A place can be a generating region as well as a receiving region or destination.
• Tourism does not take place in a vacuum, but it’s affected by environmental factors
like the political, legal, economical, human, and physical environment.
• The environmental factors either increase or reduce the demand for tourism.
• Tourism involves movement of people from source areas to destinations.
• The tourist movements are temporary; people tend to return to their places of
origin after the visits.
• There are many elements that are involved from the point a traveller leaves the
area of origin [source] to the destination. The tourism components like travel
Agencies, tour operators, transport operators become involved in the provision of
services to the tourists.

The model includes several environments-human, socio-cultural, technological,

economic, physical, political, and legal-within which tourism occurs. Changes in these
environments may cause changes in the way that tourism is provided and consumed.
Should a change occur in the technical environment, such as the development of a jet
engine that is cheaper to operate, the cost of tourism involving air travel can be
expected to decrease, resulting in an increase of tourists from a Tourist Generating
Region (TGR). The interaction of tourism with the environment is two ways. While a
change in any environment can change the pattern of Tourism, so too can changes in
tourism impact on environments, for example a large increase in numbers of tourists
visiting a destination will have a powerful impact on a range of environments.

REASONS WHY PEOPLE TRAVEL: TRAVEL-PURPOSES

People travel today, within their own countries or to foreign countries, for many
different reasons. The most common are listed below:
1. Holiday or Vacations: This is a wide-ranging classification, and there are many
different reasons why people travel for holiday and vacations and the common
ones include: -
• The need for a break from routine, the opportunity for rest, relaxation, and
leisure. The desire for a change of climate – the search for the sun
• Entertainment, enjoyment and pleasure, adventure romance
• The opportunity to engage in sport whilst on holiday and many more.
2. Culture: Many people travel to visit exhibitions, art galleries, museums, historic
places, or buildings to attend concerts and festivals, whilst others visit holy cities
and shrines or make pilgrimages. Many like to see and meet different people and
to experience different cultures. As tourists are curious about different kinds of
experiences and cultures in various parts of the world, they travel to learn and
experience the culture of a tourist destination. This becomes the prime
motivational force for their travel. This kind of tourist likes to visit museums and
attend musical, theatrical or folklore performances.
3. Religion: religion gives rise to travel. This type of tourism may include pilgrimages,
meetings or visits to religious headquarters and historical sites. This form of
tourism may stem from the curiosity of a tourist from another faith, or the spiritual
motivation, inspiration of a tourist of the same faith.

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4. Visit to relatives and friends: Although the primary motive is to see relatives and
friends, such visits are also often holidays or vacations.
5. Education / Training / study: The purpose is self-explanatory, but in some cases,
they are combined with Cultural / religious purposes. You could be getting your
education somewhere other than where you live, or you are going away on an
educational school trip.
6. New Experiences: Some people travel to visit places of renowned beauty or to be
awed by spectacular wonders or in a search for the exotic and unusual.
7. Sport, Activities and Recreation: In some cases, such travel is in the nature of
“business travel” for example professional sports persons, such as golfers. Other
people travel to attend, as spectators.
8. Hobbies: People travel in connection with their hobbies or special interests, for
example to see and often to study and photograph wildlife.
9. Business: The term business traveller is generally taken to include all those who
travel for reasons of business, or to attend meetings, conference, and exhibitions
in connection with business or their profession.
10. Health: Health, some people travel to visit medical specialist, medical centres, and
spas. Others may travel to areas in which the climate or other features may be
beneficial to their aliment or alleviate them.
11. Environmental Travellers: These are people who travel for purposes of marvelling
at the environment such as Ecotourists. Ecotourism is “responsible travel to natural
areas which conserve the environment and sustains the well-being of local people.”
It is an enlightening nature travel experience that contributes to conservation of
ecosystem, while respecting the integrity of host communities. Tourists of this kind
enjoy traveling to natural areas. They will minimize their impact on the
environment as well as protect the natural resources during their travel. Therefore,
eco-tourism is characterized as a force for conservation and preservation of nature.
In some areas, the authority may offer tour guides to educate tourists and modify
their behaviour so that they will cause less impact on the environment.
12. Dark tourism: is concerned with negative aspects of the world history. This includes
attractions focusing on horrific events, such as the massacre of Jews be the Nazis
in the Second World War in Germany, the slavery history of Zanzibar of the
massacre of Somalians in Somalia. Examples of top destination for dark tourists
include, concentration camp Auschwitz, Poland. Auschwitz was one of the largest
German concentration camps during World War 2; Chernobyl, Ukraine; Volcano
creeks in Pompeii, Italy; Hiroshima Peace Memorial, Japan; 9/11 Memorial, New
York; killing Fields, Cambodia.
Dark tourism is defined as “tourism directed to places that are identified with death
and suffering”.

MOTIVATORS FOR TRAVEL

• Health: People travel for improving their health. They would go for leisure and
medical treatment to relax and entertain themselves. Natural landscapes, historical
sites, coastline, spa, and resort are the destinations of these travellers.
• Curiosity: People travel because of curiosity, inquisitiveness, and adventure.
Politics, culture, public figures, physical features, and disaster would attract these
travellers.

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• Sports: People travel for sports to release their pressure and fantasize about being
an athlete. Being a spectator, one could experience the atmosphere of the
competition, and have social contributions such as connecting with other audience
and meet new friends.
• Pleasure: Vocation relates to pleasure because it could give routine life a break.
People would try new things and participate in activities that would make them
feel happy, such as visiting art museums, watching operas and gambling etc.
• Religious and spiritual appreciation: People travel for spiritual needs. They visit
religious headquarters usually because of religious reasons. In this way they could
have stronger believe in their religion. On the other hand, many travellers gain
satisfaction by appreciation of natural landscapes, art performances, and visiting
museums and historical sites.
• Professional and business: People travel for business such as scientific expeditions,
business meetings, conventions, and education.
• Friends and relatives: People travel because they want to visit their friends and
relatives; it shows their care of family and friends.
• Roots syndrome: People travel to trace the root of their family or the culture of
their homeland. Pedigree research and hometown exploration are the common
activities of these travellers.
• People may travel for gaining respect from others and satisfying social status
because one with plenty of travel experience and knowledge of different countries
is usually admired by others.

TOURISM AND TRAVEL MOTIVATION

A motivation is a wish that prompts people to take action, work hard to achieve a goal,
and satisfy a certain kind of need. For example, when a person is hungry and there is
a need to appease his or her hunger, a motivation to search for food is formed.
Therefore, people’s activities of all kinds are driven by their motivations, and they
govern people’s actions.

TRAVEL MOTIVATIONS
1. Why do we go travelling?
2. Why do we choose to travel to a certain place?
3. Why do we participate in a certain travel activity?
These are essentially questions about tourists’ travel motivations. Travel motivations
directly spur people’s travel activities. A travel motivation is the psychological need of
a person to participate in travel activities, and this kind of need will directly promote
the travel motivation; if you have a motivation, a travel action will result. However, in
real life, the process from the formation of a travel motivation to the occurrence of an
actual travel action is a complex one. During this process, when people have a need
to travel, they must also have corresponding individual factors and external
environmental conditions, such as physical fitness, financial status, weather and
transport.

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WHAT ARE TRAVEL MOTIVATORS?
Travel motivators are the internal factors at work that drive people to travel for
different reasons, they are expressed as needs, wants, and desires and lead some
people to place a much higher value on leisure and travel than others. Several theories
have been proposed to explain travel motivation and travel is seen as inspired by
several psychological drives which manifest needs, wants and desires. Travel
motivations form an integral part of travel behaviour and has been widely researched
and applied in tourism marketing strategies. For the tourism industry to maintain or
improve its status it is dependent on tourists‟ travel decisions which are reflected in
travel behaviour. Travel motivations form an integral part of travel behaviour and has
been widely researched and applied in tourism marketing strategies. The need to see
the unseen and know the unknown drives people to travel to new places and motivates
them to visit new destinations (Venkatesh, 2006). It is therefore important for tourism
products such as resorts to understand the travel behaviour and more specific the
travel motivations of tourists, as it may assist in product development, improved
marketing strategies, enhanced service delivery approaches and the creation of a
competitive advantage. advantage. Therefore, travel behaviour plays an important
role in tourism as concept, industry, and economy, and demands investigation. It is
important to understand and have adequate knowledge about the motivations
influencing the travel behaviour of tourists, for they have a direct impact on the
decisions tourists make (George, 2004). The prediction of travel behaviour and
knowledge of travel motivation play an important role in tourism marketing, to create
demand and assist tourists in decision-making (March & Woodside, 2006; Decrop,
2006; Mazanec et al., 2001; Holloway, 2004). Consequently, by having ample
knowledge and understanding of tourist behaviour, robust strategies and policies can
be developed and implemented to increase the demand for tourism. It is incumbent
on tourism industry operators to read these needs and wants and create products and
services that satisfy these. There is great importance of knowing travel motives
because: An understanding of people’s motives for wishing to travel is important for
those who market tourism and travel. It is necessary for the arrangement of the best
possible itinerary and accommodation to suit client needs. Mayo and Jarvis (1981)
have suggested the travel motivations could be divided into four categories:
1. Physical motivators: those related to refreshment of body and mind, health
purposes, sport, and pleasure. Physical rest, sports participation, beach recreation,
relaxing entertainment, and health considerations
2. Cultural motivators: those identified by the desire to see and know more about
other cultures, to find out about the natives of the country, their lifestyle, music,
art, folklore, dance, etc.
3. Interpersonal motivators: this group includes a desire to meet new people, visit
friends and relatives, and to seek new and different experiences. Travel is an
escape from routine relationships with friends or neighbours or the home
environment or it is used for spiritual reasons.
4. Status and prestige motivators: these include the desire for recognition, attention,
appreciation, and a good reputation. The desire for continuation of education (that
is personal development, ego enhancement, and sensual indulgence) this category
also includes personal development in relation to the pursuit of hobbies and
education.

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TRAVEL MOTIVATIONS

Travellers are motivated to satisfy a need, and they have a perception of what will
satisfy their need. At the same time, travellers have a perception of the attractions of
the destination and whether the attractions satisfy their needs. If both sides are
agreed, travellers are motivated to visit that destination.

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR-TRAVEL MOTIVATIONS

To provide a high-quality service to tourists effectively, you must understand what

psychological factors can stimulate and influence people to make all types of travel
decisions. Travel psychology is a science that involves researching tourists’
psychological activities and their objective rules, the basic objective of which is to
explain why people travel, what factors influence people’s travel decisions, and how
the motivations for such decisions are formed. Apart from the consumer behaviour
approach we also use aspects of personality to describe travelling behaviour.

FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE INDIVIDUAL TRAVEL MOTIVATIONS

1. Economic capacity: Economic capacity is the basis on which all needs are formed.
Because travel is a kind of consumer behaviour, the ability to pay the various types
of charges involved is of course necessary. When a person’s economic income can
only support his or her basic living needs, he or she will not form a motivation to
go travelling. As an economy develops, in countries and regions where citizens’
income increases, the tourism industry becomes more developed, and the number
of people who go travelling climbs, or drops when the opposite applies.
2. Spare time: Spare time refers to the time that people can freely allocate to taking
part in pastimes and entertainment or anything else they enjoy participating in
after their daily work, study, living and other compulsory time commitments. Travel
necessarily takes up a certain amount of time, and if a person cannot get away
from official business or family matters and has no spare time to freely allocate
and set aside for his or her own pastimes, he or she cannot go travelling.
Therefore, spare time is an important condition for the realization of travel
activities. In developed countries, labour protection laws are relatively strong, and
workers have statutory holidays, both of which ensure that people can form travel
motivations.

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3. Sex, age, and physical condition: Compared with females, males are
psychologically more proactive, risk-tolerant and willing to seek novelty, which
spurs them to form the desire to go travelling more easily than females. Young
people’s need to explore nature and society is stronger than that of adults and
older people, and they have curious minds and a psychological need to outdo
others, as well as a great ability to accept new things. Therefore, when compared
with other people, their travel motivations are less affected or limited by reality.
Physical condition is an important factor that influences travel psychology. For
example, older people are limited by factors such as health and lack of strength.
They will generally have a relatively large number of requirements relating to the
travel destination, travel resources and the travel environment.
4. Psychological factors: Travel motivations are a form of individual psychological
activity and are inevitably influenced by various aspects such as individual
interests, hobbies, profession, attitude to life, understanding of the surrounding
environment, level of education, and family.
5. Group, family, and social atmosphere: Group or social pressure can also influence
people’s travel motivations. For example, travel activities organized by enterprises,
or travel awards, etc. encourage people to form their own travel motivations
involuntarily, and travel activities subsequently take place. Social surroundings can
also influence people’s travel motivations. Colleagues’, friends’ and relatives’ travel
behaviour and travel experiences can always influence others, or lead to the
formation of a comparative psychology, making people form identical travel
motivations, and leading to the formation of a kind of imitative travel behaviour.
6. Overall development of the tourism Industry: It is only when the economy of a
country or region is developed that it will have enough resources to improve and
construct travel facilities, develop tourist attractions, and promote transport
development. Road transport facilities, accommodation, catering, and service
standards at a destination are important factors in the tourists’ choice of
destination and affect their formation of travel motivations to a large degree,
especially for tourists with relatively high hospitality expectations.

CONDITIONS ESSENTIAL FOR TRAVEL AND TOURISM TO TAKE PLACE

Enabling conditions for travel to take place include time and money; usually both are
essential requirements for travel to happen.
• Motivation for travel, people need either to have the desire to travel or to have a
reason, such as attending a business meeting or conference.
• The availability of some form of transport to ensure accessibility to the destination
as well as for use to tour the destination is very essential to enable travel to occur.
• A reasonable level of political stability is necessary as a pre-condition for any
tourism activity. Normally political unstable destinations are avoided by both travel
organizers and the tourists themselves.
• Another pre-requisite for tourism and travel to take place is the provision of the
minimum basic standard of transport and accommodation.
• Accommodation of all grades and standards should be available at a destination if
it is to compete effectively with other destinations worldwide.
• An environment that is attractive in some way is necessary to attract and
encourage visitors to a destination.

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BARRIERS TO TRAVEL AND TOURISM

While travel has become popular social phenomena, there are several reasons why
people do not travel extensively or do not travel at all. Most studies show that barriers
to travel fall under the following categories.
1. Cost. Consumers operate within monetary constraints, and travel must compete
with other allocations of funds. Saying that travel is too expensive implies that
tourism is viewed as secondary.
2. Lack of time. Many people cannot leave their businesses, jobs, or professions for
vacation purposes.
3. Health limitations. Poor health and physical limitations keep many persons at
home. The fear of contracting AIDS, severe acute respiratory syndrome, bird flu,
keeps people away from traveling.
4. Family stage. Parents to young children often do not travel because of family
obligations and inconveniences in traveling with children.
5. Lack of interest. Unawareness of travel destinations that would be pleasurable
satisfaction is a major barrier.
6. Fear and safety. Things unknown are often feared, and in travel, much is often not
familiar to the would-be traveller. Wars, unrest, and negative publicity about an
area will create doubt and fear in the mind of the prospective traveller.
7. Cost. Consumers operate within monetary constraints, and travel must compete
with other allocations of funds. Saying that travel is too expensive implies that
tourism is viewed as secondary.
8. Lack of time. Many people cannot leave their businesses, jobs, or professions for
vacation purposes.
9. Health limitations. Poor health and physical limitations keep many persons at
home. The fear of contracting AIDS, severe acute respiratory syndrome, bird flu,
keeps people away from traveling.
10. Family stage. Parents to young children often do not travel because of family
obligations and inconveniences in traveling with children.
11. Lack of interest. Unawareness of travel destinations that would be pleasurable
satisfaction is a major barrier.
12. Fear and safety. Things unknown are often feared, and in travel, much is often not
familiar to the would-be traveller. Wars, unrest, and negative publicity about an
area will create doubt and fear in the mind of the prospective traveller.
13. Health problems: people are sometimes prevented from travelling by their health.
Illness and physical disability limit the mobility of such people.
14. Lack of finances: a lack of finances is surely the biggest obstacle for many people
who would otherwise seek to travel. It is one of the biggest factors inhibiting
participation in recreational activities.
15. Safety: political unrest implies a safety risk in certain areas. The assault or murder
of a tourist attracts negative publicity and makes people reluctant to travel.

FACTORS RESPONSIBLE HIGH TRAVEL PROPENSITY

1. Developed service economy: Economies dependent on services and commerce are

known for high tourism and leisure activities for example the United States of
America and other developed countries such as France and Italy.

21
2. High per capita discretional income: High disposable income is an impetus for
tourism growth and development as people with high income can embark on
leisure and tourism unlike people without disposable income.
3. Smaller households: small household are often characterized with high disposable
income as such high propensity to travel.
4. Relatively old and aging population: High life expectancy means the aging
population has time for leisure and tourism after active and employment lives
(Retirement phase of life): opens time for tourism and leisure for the elderly
population.
5. High levels of literacy and education: There is a positive relationship between
Tourism growth and literacy. Highly literate and educated population will stimulate
demand for various forms of tourism such as leisure and business.
6. Population predominantly urbanized: In predominately urbanized societies such as
Europe, Tourism is highly developed as most urban residents participate in tourism
due to exposure to the media and the need to escape the city life.
7. Travelling accepted as social norm for majority of population: Travel has become
a norm for people especially in Europe, hence high travel propensity as travel is
seen as a habit and part of everyday life.
8. Strong currency and economy: hence availability of money for travel to cheaper
destinations.
9. High levels of personal mobility: mobility in form of means of transport means that
people can move around with ease for travel and tourism thus enhancing tourism
growth.
10. Extensive connections to outside the world: Links with potential destinations means
the people find it easy to travel the world boosting tourism development.
11. Governments need to link up and develop common platform conducive for tourism
growth and development for example the removal of travel barriers such as Visas
and other restrictions that constrain tourism activities.
12. Governments supportive of outbound travel and unrestricted access to all forms of
media means that people now have access to many destinations and Governments
are doing away with barriers that limit tourism, hence stimulating tourism growth
and development. Access to information means people are informed of
destinations opening wide choices for tourism.

TYPES / FORMS OF TOURISM

There are many forms of tourism that will be studied, and the list continues to grow
every day.
1. Recreational/leisure tourism: this is a common type of tourism, where mass and
popular package tours involving substantial groups seek sun, sand and sea as well
as fresh air or sporting activities of various kinds. It is engaged in by people who
like to seek to change their day-to-day life and seek relaxation. Those seeking the
4’s that is sun, sand, sea, and sex. Those who want to engage in activities like
swimming, cycling, and other sporting activities.
Leisure tourism can be divided into two forms: 1. Relaxation. 2. Sightseeing.
The destinations for relaxation tourism can be attractive scenery or sun, sea, and
sand. Examples of these tourist destinations are the coasts, beaches, countryside, and
mountainous regions.

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Sightseeing tourism includes the tourists who may travel around sightseeing and
staying in different places. The main reasons for sightseeing tourism are a desire for
self-education and for self-esteem. This kind of tourist takes a lot of photographs.

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF LEISURE TOURISTS

▪ The vacation or the holiday tourist is the most common and popular tourist, he is
immensely affected by changes in the price and can be influenced by aggressive
marketing.
▪ The holiday tourist can be attracted by offering discounts and other forms of
special promotions.
▪ The vacation Tourist is resort oriented, that is they normally visit areas with popular
attractions and amenities.
▪ The vacation Tourist market is regarded as highly seasonal in that there are times
when a resort may record high inflows especially during vacations like holidays.
▪ There are times when activities like in ski resorts will be off-season during summer
hence the seasonality of vacation tourism.
2. Cultural Tourism: the aim here is to experience new cultural activities. These can
be centred in rural or primitive areas or based in towns offering special cultural
activities, for example folklore, arts and music. In this form of tourism, the main
objective among other things is the discovery and exploration of monuments and
other sites. It contributes to their maintenance and protection and in doing so,
brings social, cultural, and economic benefits to the people.
3. Historic Tourism: This involves visiting heritage locations, museums, cathedrals,
and other heritage sites.
4. Ethnic Tourism or interpersonal tourism [VFR], this involves contact with unusual
customs in remote areas or simply visiting the family’s country of origin and the
visiting of friends and relatives, for example the black Americans visiting some
parts of Africa.
5. Educational Tourism generally refers to travel in which learning occurs within a
structure or formal programme. For example, (Study abroad programme) in which
students attend schools or programmes in another country. One of the main
reasons for attending a foreign school is the opportunity to be immersed in the
language and culture of the destination.
6. Business tourism: The term business tourism is generally taken to include all those
who travel for reasons of business or to attend conferences or congresses and
exhibitions in connection with their business or profession. Some categories of
business tourism. Business travellers may travel for various purposes, for example,
trade, meeting, convention, and exhibition. Businesspeople buy similar products as
do other tourists. They would also spend money on entertainment and recreation
while they are at their destinations.

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF BUSINESS TOURISM ARE:

▪ Business travel is relatively price-inelastic; businesspeople cannot be encouraged
to travel more frequently by the offer of lower prices, nor will an increase in price
discourage them from traveling. The demand for business tourism is relatively price
inelastic; this means that even if prices go up, this does not significantly reduce
demand for business tourists.

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▪ Business travel is not greatly affected by seasonal factors such as variation in
climate or holidays.
▪ Business tourists take relatively short but frequent trips to major business
destinations.
▪ Business tourists may require different services, such as communication facilities
or secretarial service.
▪ Business travellers expect, and generally receive, a higher standard of service.
Much business travel is first-class or business-class, and thus receives higher levels
of service from the suppliers, including the travel agencies.
▪ The choice of a business tourist is generally determined by the nature of his
business.
▪ The demand will tend to be big city oriented or to areas where there are business
facilities like conference venues. The duration of business trips is normally shorter
and relatively frequent.
▪ Business tourism is the type of travel necessitated by passengers’ professional
activities and may possibly require special services like conference rooms,
secretariat services and communication tools like the internet facilities. The trade
fairs, conventions, exhibitions, conferences, and other events attract this kind of
tourist.
▪ Business tourists are non-discretionary, the needs and requirements of the
company will determine the travel habits of the business tourists.
▪ Business tourists have little choice in terms of the destination, timing, and whether
they travel.
▪ Business travellers need good, frequent, and reliable transport.
▪ One of the primary needs of the business tourist is timesaving, ease, and the speed
at which tourism transactions and interaction take place is therefore of prime
importance. A high value is placed on fast, efficient, and simple booking services
as well as ready access to information about facilities and services.
▪ Comfort: Business travellers spend much of the time travelling and staying in
accommodation away from the comfort of their homes. The business traveller
places a high premium on comfort, and most likely can pay for this requirement.

7. Social Tourism: All relations and phenomena resulting from accession to tourism
of low-income groups made possible or facilitated by specific social measures. It is
the type of tourism practiced by those who otherwise would not be able to meet
the cost without social intervention. In developed countries governments subsidies
holidays for the poor and that is a form of social intervention by governments to
enable less privileged and youths to enjoy tourism activities.
8. Cultural tourism: Cultural tourism is a genre of special interest tourism based on
the search for and participation in new and deep cultural experience whether
aesthetic, intellectual, emotional, or psychological. It incorporates a variety of
cultural forms, including museums, galleries, festivals, architecture, historic sites
as well as any experience that brings one culture in contact with another for
specific purpose. Cultural tourism is related to the transmission of knowledge and
ideas of the destination area or host community. As tourists are curious about
different kinds of experiences and cultures in various parts of the world, they travel
to learn and experience the culture of a tourist destination. This becomes the prime

24
 motivational force for their travel. This kind of tourist likes to visit museums and
attend musical, theatrical or folklore performances.
9. Rural Tourism: Any form of tourism that showcases the rural life, art, culture and
heritage at rural locations, thereby, benefiting the local community economically
and socially as well as enabling interaction between the tourists and the locals for
a more enriching tourism experience can be termed as rural tourism. It is
multifaceted and may entail farm/agricultural tourism, cultural tourism, nature
tourism, adventure tourism, and eco- tourism. The stresses of urban lifestyles have
led to this counter- urbanisation approach to tourism. There are various factors
that have led to this changing trend towards rural tourism like increasing levels of
awareness, growing interest in heritage and culture and improved accessibility and
environmental consciousness, Tourists like to visit villages to experience and live a
relaxed and healthy lifestyle.
10. Ecotourism is a term which has been defined in many ways and is used generally
to describe activities which are conducted in harmony with nature, as opposed to
more traditional ‘mass’ tourism. Ecotourism is “responsible travel to natural areas
which conserve the environment and sustains the well-being of local people.” The
society further stated that, it is an enlightening nature travel experience that
contributes to conservation of ecosystem, while respecting the integrity of host
communities.
11. Farm tourism: Is the participation by the farmer in typically small-scale tourism
ventures, it only applies to operations, where besides the hospitality function, and
active agriculture is providing income to the host family. Vacation Farm is also a
form of farm tourism used to refer to an active working farm on which extra rooms
in the home or extra houses on the farm are rented to guests. Example of farm
tourism activities would be harvesting festivals, food and wine festivals, hunting.
12. Religious pilgrimage: People are motivated by their religious beliefs. The demand
for this kind of tourism is quite stable. The destinations of religious pilgrimages
usually have a long tradition, such as Muslims to Mecca and Christians to
Jerusalem.
13. Health tourism: Since the development of spas (mineral springs) in the 18th
century, there have been visitors to centres of medical treatment. The spas in the
mainland of China and Japan are still popular attractions in some tour programs.
14. Visiting Friends and Relatives (VFR): Some tourists travel abroad because they
want to visit their friends and relatives. It is sometimes said that those visiting their
friends or relatives (VFR) are not really tourists at all in the conceptual sense. They
do not usually buy accommodation or much food or drink or other services at the
destination; but they do consume food and beverages from the supermarkets used
by their hosts, and household consumption of other services (e.g., electricity,
water) is increased during their stay. Some of the VFR tourists' destinations may
not be tourist attractions, but they are the population centres where friends or
relatives live. Tourists are therefore visiting “non-tourist” areas.
15. Sports tourism. Many tourists travel for sports or to participate in sports, such as
skiing or mountaineering; watch sports, such as attending the Olympic Games or
World Cup Soccer. For example, the International Rugby-Sevens Competition in
Hong Kong attracts both sport players and spectators.

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FACTORS THAT CONTRIBUTE TO THE GROWTH OF TRAVEL AND TOURISM
1. An increase in average disposable income, meaning that people are now able to
spend some money on leisure and tourism.
2. Greater mobility through mass car ownership allowing travel flexibility and
propensity, resulting in rapid growth of tourism and leisure. Historically, change in
tourism has been closely linked to transport innovations. In future the transport
will continue to influence tourism growth. Tourism remains dependent upon
transport technology and consequent improvements in range, efficiency, and
safety of travel. Equally tourism may be constrained by transportation when the
old systems fail to accommodate increased levels of demand.
3. Improved marketing of holiday and destinations. Increased marketing of
destinations and attractions as governments and private sector companies
recognize the economic benefits of tourism. Tourism has become an important
industry and trade for economies. The use of the Internet and other
communication tools has meant that tourism grows rapidly.
4. A reduction in the cost of airfares and a greater emphasis on the need to escape
daily stress all have given tourism growth and development great impetus.
5. Improved education levels throughout most parts of the world enabling most
people to become aware of the need to travel [Education and research related
travel trips.
6. The developments in technology, leading to sophisticated reservation systems for
example the use of the internet and better air transport, all giving rise to great
stride in tourism growth.
7. More leisure time in terms of paid holidays, two-day weekend for most people, and
the ability to build up extra holiday and flexi-time systems.
8. The rise of package holiday, which helped make travel affordable for most people
and took fear of travelling out to other countries.
9. The increases in the number of attractions worldwide such as manmade attractions
like theme parks for example Disney Land in the U.SA and Shaka marine theme
park in Durban have boosted travel and tourism.
10. Globalization, thus the international growth of firms makes it possible for people
to travel to most parts of the world for business purposes. Improved peace and
stability in most parts of the world makes the environment conducive for travel.
11. Political factors like peace and stability in most parts of the world and the
emergence of the economies in the Eastern Europe led to an increased demand to
travel from the population of those countries, and to the development of
destinations and products in the region. Business and specialist leisure travel,
particularly cultural tourism, has grown as travel restriction have eased,
infrastructure improved and attitudes to service changed.
12. Social factors like more working women, increased paid leave, more flexible
working hours, early retirement, and increased awareness of travel possibility:
these factors can lead to a brighter future for the tourism industry.
13. Political factors: in some countries the governments often encourage tourism
through incentives such as subsidised holiday packages for elderly and youths.

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THREATS TO THE GROWTH OF THE TOURISM INDUSTRY
Demand for tourism and leisure is affected by the changes in the economic and
political climate. Tourism and leisure both require time and money. In a recession
people tend to have more time and less money. Political changes can quickly reduce
the appeal of some destinations. The tourism industry operates in a dynamic
environment that involves many interconnected sectors. As a result, it is constantly
evolving and is particularly vulnerable to unexpected crises. Crises come in many
forms, including health threats like the 2020 global coronavirus pandemic, natural
disasters such as earthquakes and floods, political unrest, and terrorist attacks. Such
risks and crises pose significant threats to the tourism industry, destinations and tour
operators working in the sector. Crises can have a long-term negative impact on a
destination both in terms of the destination’s image and its visitor numbers. The
following factors are the greatest threats to the growth and development of Tourism
worldwide.
• Wars and political instability. The most popular destinations in Africa have been
significantly affected by war and political upheavals that have destroyed the
Tourism industry. Acts of Terrorism for example the recent attacks on tourists in
Egypt, Kenya, and Bali in Indonesian. The railway line bombings in the United
Kingdom. The 2011 Russia Airport Terror Attacks. The 9/11 United States Terrorist
attacks. Lately, the Russian war on Ukraine will have global ripple effects across
many industries, especially on travellers, travel agencies, airlines, and cruise
operators.
• Terrorism. Fourie et al. (2020) have shown that the multiplier effect of terrorism
and insecurity on tourism is regressive due to travellers and tourists’ risk
perceptions of destinations. Walters et al. (2019) reported that hotel occupancy
levels, restaurant takings, airline passenger numbers, and retail revenues all
decline when there are terrorism and other security concerns. In addition, security
threats have negative effects on prospective tourists’ perceptions of comfort,
safety, and leisure choices of a destination country.
• Poverty in developing countries is suffocating tourism activities. Eradicating
poverty in all its forms remains one of the greatest challenges facing humanity.
Poverty and unemployment are two major perennial problems in South Africa, with
most citizens unable to undertake any leisure activity because of the lack of
disposable income.
• Natural disasters like the Tsunami which destroyed most holiday resorts in some
parts of Asia. Natural disasters-these include earthquakes, volcanic eruptions,
tsunamis and floods, hurricanes and other extreme weather disasters. The Boxing
Day Tsunami in 2004, which devastated numerous coastal communities in Asia and
killed more than 230,000 people, and Hurricane Maria, which devasted several
islands in the Caribbean in 2017, are two examples of natural disasters. More
recently, climate change-induced floods have affected destinations such as
Mozambique and South Africa’s KwaZulu Natal Province. Extreme events such as
typhoons and cyclones and heavy rainfall endanger the infrastructure that coastal
tourism depends on. As the effects of climate change are mostly seen in nature
and landscapes, industries such as the tourism sector that rely on nature are
greatly affected.

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• Energy crisis. Any future energy crisis will reduce movement of travellers by
crippling transport operations. The rise in fuel prices dent the travel industry
especially air Transport operations. The most severe power cuts ever experienced
in South Africa are threatening industry and disrupting the lives of millions of
people, including the pivotal tourism industry, resulting in losses and closures of
business.
• Environment factors like global warming and the erosion of the ozone layer, this
will consequently affect the earth’s temperature and consequently raise sea level
which will affect tourism drastically. Much of tourism investment is in locations
fringing the coast, and vital tourism resources such as the flora and fauna of
destinations will be irrevocably altered by global warming. Vanishing beaches, a
higher frequency of storms and floods, and a lack of snowfall are only some
consequences of global warming that are bound to have an impact on the tourist
industry. Droughts and heat waves will also put tourists off visiting affected
regions, as experts have warned for years.
• Tourist behaviour is a threat to tourism as the spread of aids may render some
destinations otherwise attractive destinations no-go zones, while vociferous
campaigns against sex tourism may also alter tourism flows and motivations.
• Technological advancement such as virtual reality (VR) may one day replace
authentic travel experience all together. By strapping on a body suit and plugging
into the virtual reality programme you could be transported to the sights, sounds
and sensation of, say the Caribbean. The tourist can experience a destination but
without the risk of skin cancer, AIDS, or any other side effects of travel: while for
the destination the negative impacts are removed-but so are the positive effects
on income, jobs, and regional development.
• Political unrest/civic strife: Acts of political or social unrest have an impact on the
brand of the country as a tourist destination, which ultimately affects visitor
arrivals. The increase in social unrest and violent strikes are the greatest threat to
tourism growth.
• Dependence on foreign tourists: An overdependence on foreign tourists could
prove to be fatal to the economy. International developments, such as the massive
retrenchments recently experienced in the United Kingdom, the random issuance
of travel advisories on South Africa due to perceptions of crime, and the imposition
of strict visa regimes, do call for market and product diversification. To South
Africa, such diversification could mean developing a domestic tourism growth
strategy and targeting new markets within the region (African markets).
• Crime: The capacity or lack thereof, to decrease crime levels may brand South
Africa as an unsafe destination.
• Incidents of intolerance: Any form of intolerance/phobia towards others based on
origin, sexual orientation and the like will negatively affect a tourism destination.
• Spread of diseases: The spread of infectious or communicable diseases poses a
danger for any tourism destination. The severe acute respiratory syndrome
outbreak in 2003 and the bird flu epidemic in 2004 were devastating to the Asia-
Pacific region, both in terms of loss of human lives and financial losses. The impact
on tourism was immediate. The emergence and spread of swine flu also had
devastating effects on travel patterns. pandemics and epidemics are the most likely
crises. Along with COVID-19, the Ebola epidemic between 2014 and 2016, which
affected several West African countries, is a major example in this category. The

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 Ebola epidemic impacted tourism elsewhere in Africa, in countries many thousands
of miles away, owing to the misconception that ‘Ebola is in Africa, so Africa has
Ebola’.
• Economic crises-financial crises often have a significant effect on the tourism
industry, such as the Global Economic Crisis in 2008/9, which lead to a 4% drop in
international tourist arrivals. However, by 2010, tourism had rebounded strongly.
The impact of COVID-19 is likely to lead to a further global economic crisis. For
instance, tourism came to a standstill in mid-March 2020. International tourist
arrivals decreased by 56 per cent in the first months of the year, with numbers in
May down by 98 per cent. This translates into a loss of nearly $320 billion in exports
over three times what was lost during the whole of the 2009 global economic crisis.

FACTORS LIKELY TO LEAD TO A POSITIVE TOURISM FUTURE

1. Improved peace and stability in most parts of the world makes the environment
conducive for travel. Political factors like peace and stability in most parts of the
world and the emergence of the economies in the Eastern Europe led to an
increased demand to travel from the population of those countries, and to the
development of destinations and products in the region. Business and specialist
leisure travel, particularly cultural tourism, has grown as travel restriction have
eased, infrastructure improved and attitudes to service changed.
2. Social factors like more working women, increased paid leave, more flexible
working hours, early retirement, and increased awareness of travel possibility:
these factors can lead to a brighter future for the tourism industry.
3. Political stability in most parts of the world is all important for tourism development.
4. Strong economic growth characterized by high disposable income, low tax rates
resulting in more discretional income for tourism and leisure. Improvement in
transportation to improve accessibility of both old and new destinations. In future
the transport will continue to influence tourism growth. Tourism remains
dependent upon transport technology and consequent improvements in range,
efficiency, and safety of travel. Improved marketing and communication to create
awareness of the benefits of embarking on tourism and leisure.
5. New product development, innovations, and improved distribution. The discovery
of new attractions and product innovation will boost future tourism. Space tourism
is like to grow because of improved transport systems. People will continue with
adventure of attempting to tour other planets like the moon. Technological
discoveries are likely to enhance this.
6. Improved international trade, these factors are likely to boost the future of tourism.
The need for efficiency in the international tourism market has accelerated the
emergency of multinational corporations which provide tourism services to
multinational corporations which provide tourism services in various countries.
Globalization will increase business related tourism.
7. Development of some developing countries in most parts of Africa will result in
new tourist areas being accessible. This is a positive sign for the future of tourism.
The development of infrastructure will result in improved accessibility of most parts
of the world boosting tourism growth. NB: The future of the tourism worldwide is
very difficult to predict. No one can predict or forecast the trends and future growth

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 of tourism. Tourism is very dynamic and unpredictable as well as vulnerable to
many factors outside the control of the tourism sector; hence no one can accurately
predict the future of tourism. The future trends are very difficult to predict.

IMPROVING ENVIRONMENT FOR TOURISM GROWTH IN SOUTH AFRICA

For South Africa to feature prominently in the new world order, many tourism
development areas must be addressed and given priority for the growth and
development of the tourism sector.
1. Improvement of governance and upholding of democratic institutions so that the
international perception of the nation is that of a progressive and forward looking
as well as a welcoming country.
2. Investing in human capital or people. This will result in the empowerment of people
because of education and training. People need to be empowered with the ability
to develop solutions appropriate for the nation’s challenges and initiate new
Tourism projects for employment creation.
3. Increasing competitiveness and diversifying the economy and reducing aid
dependence and debt. The South African economy needs to be rebooted and the
Tourism sector offers the springboard for economic diversification.
4. Strengthening partnerships for tourism development, South Africa must strengthen
partnerships with other regional countries for tourism development especially
under auspices of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
Development of regional alliances and integrated destination marketing should also
underpin the overall South African tourism growth path.
5. New infrastructure development: setting up of hotels and new airports for tourism
development, the World Cup preparations gave South Africa a timely boost for
development, and such investment needs to be maintained.
6. Transport Access information and service: readily accessible marketing and
business information for marketing and investment guidance. The travel trade
intermediaries need to play an important role in the information spread about the
tourism products that South Africa can offer to the World. Other development and
investment organs of the state need to avail all the relevant information for easy
investment decision making.
7. Product development and enhancement: renovations of current infrastructure,
construction of new amenities and attractions to draw more tourists should be a
priority. This should be the mandate of all the tourism players and stakeholders for
tourism industry to develop.
8. Industry development: further tourism research, enterprise development and
growth of hotel and travel and tourism developments such as airports and
attractions. All developments should be research driven for the growth of tourism
in the country. It would be important to identify activities that build on the
development initiatives as well as existing product strengths to enhance tourism
growth in South Africa.
9. Identification of key products: there must be a national profiling and identification
of all tourism resources for a comprehensive database for tourism marketing and
development.

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