Tourism is a widely used word but most people have no deep understanding of what tourism is. Tourism is a travelling for pleasure, fun or work. It is also the act of process of attracting business, accommodating, entertaining and showing tourist a good time provide that you have something that could catch and captivate their attention (Wikipedia). Tourism isn’t restricted to a person’s domain, it goes way beyond that. The WTO (World Tourism Organization) defines ‘tourism’ as the travelling to and staying in of different individual to places outside their usual surroundings for a respective period of time for fun, work,, entertainment, relaxation, sight-seeing and other purposes.
“Tourism is considered an activity essential to the life of nations because of its direct effects on the social, cultural, educational and economic sectors of the national societies and on their international relations. (Gbadegbo and Adedeji)”
Tourism could be domestic or international. It serves as a good income generation for every country an affects the economy of a country greatly. Also, it could influence the balance of payments of a country. According to the UN, there’s only three kinds of tourism, they are – Domestic tourism (resident – travelling within their country/area of residence), Inbound tourism (non-residents travelling in a given country), and Outbound Tourism (residents travelling in another country). Another thing that should be understood is the word tourism and travels are used side by side. Even though, they are similar in definition, the word travels seems more purposeful.
- - Ecotourism;
- - Volunteer Tourism;
- - Pro-poor Tourism;
- - Recession Tourism;
- - Medical Tourism;
- - Educational Tourism;
- - Creative Tourism;
- - Experiential Tourism;
- - Dark Tourism;
- - Social Tourism;
- - Social Tourism;
- - Religious Tourism;
- - Sports Tourism and;
- - Agro tourism.

Agritourism or agrotourism, as it is defined most broadly, involves any agriculturally based operation or activity that brings visitors to a farm or ranch. Agritourism has different definitions in different parts of the world, and sometimes refers specifically to farm stays, as in Italy. Elsewhere, agritourism includes a wide variety of activities, including buying produce direct from a farm stand, navigating a corn maze, slopping hogs, picking fruit, feeding animals, or staying at a bed and breakfast (B&B) on a farm. Agritourism is a form of niche tourism that is considered a growth industry in many parts of the world, including Australia, Canada, the United States, and the Philippines. Other terms associated with agritourism are "agritainment", "value added products", "farm direct marketing" and "sustainable agriculture" (Wikipedia, 2016). Countries particularly known for their agrotourism because of their abundance in vegetables, farm products and livestocks are Latvia, Italy, India, Turkey and United States respectively.
Ecotourism
Ecotourism, also known as ecological tourism, is responsible travel to fragile, pristine, and usually protected areas that strives to be low-impact and (often) small-scale. It helps educate the traveler; provides funds for conservation; directly benefits the economic development and political empowerment of local communities; and fosters respect for different cultures and for human rights.
Volunteer Tourism
Volunteer tourism is defined in relation “to those tourists who, for various reasons, volunteer in an organised way to undertake holidays that might involve aiding or alleviating the material poverty of some groups in society”. This form of tourism is largely praised for its more sustainable approach to travel, with tourists attempting to assimilate into local cultures, and avoiding the criticisms of consumptive and exploitative mass tourism.
Pro-poor Tourism
Pro-poor tourism, which seeks to help the poorest people in developing countries, has been receiving increasing attention by those involved in development; the issue has been addressed through small-scale projects in local communities and through attempts by Ministries of Tourism to attract large numbers of tourists. Successful examples of money reaching the poor include mountain-climbing in Tanzania and cultural tourism in Luang.
Recession Tourism
Recession tourism is a travel trend which evolved by way of the world economic crisis. Recession tourism is defined by low-cost and high-value experiences taking place of once-popular generic retreats. Various recession tourism hotspots have seen business boom during the recession thanks to comparatively low costs of living and a slow world job market suggesting travellers are elongating trips where their money travels further. This concept is not widely used in tourism research. It is related to the short-lived phenomenon that is more widely known as staycation.
Educational Tourism
Educational tourism is developed because of the growing popularity of teaching and learning of knowledge and the enhancing of technical competency outside of classroom environment. In educational tourism, the main focus of the tour or leisure activity includes visiting another country to learn about the culture, study tours, or to work and apply skills learned inside the classroom in a different environment, such as in the International Practicum Training Program.
Creative tourism has existed as a form of cultural tourism, since the early beginnings of tourism itself. Its European roots date back to the time of the Grand Tour, which saw the sons of aristocratic families traveling for the purpose of mostly interactive, educational experiences. They have defined "creative tourism" as tourism related to the active participation of travellers in the culture of the host community, through interactive workshops and informal learning experiences.
Social tourism is making tourism available to poor people who otherwise could not afford to travel for their education or recreation. It includes youth hostels and low-priced holiday accommodation run by church and voluntary organisations, trade unions, or in Communist times publicly owned enterprises.
Religious Tourism
Religious tourism, in particular religious travel, is used to strengthen faith and show devotion both of which are central tenets of many major religions. Religious tourists seek destinations whose image encourages them to believe that they can strengthen the religious elements of their self-identity in a positive manner. Given this, the perceived image of a destination may be positively influenced by whether it conforms to the requirements of their religious self-identity or not.
Tourism is an important, even vital, source of income for many regions and countries. Its importance was recognized in the Manila Declaration on World Tourism of 1980 as "an activity essential to the life of nations because of its direct effects on the social, cultural, educational, and economic sectors of national societies and on their international relations." Tourism is what the world needs. It’s a complete package given to the world by nature and the wonderful people in it. It is fun, educative, entertaining, brings people together from far and wide and most importantly, it generates income.
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