Tourism

Any people who visits different places for different purpose not more than 360 days and not less than a day are known as tourist. Tourist may be external or internal on the basis of their movement. Any people who visit any place and return back to origin place within 24 hours is said to be an excursionist and such visit is known as excursion. Tourist may visits with the aim of utilizing their leisure time, holiday interval, recreational, educational and religious.

For the first time, the definition of the tourist was given by League of Nations with the view focused to make international travel statistics of all countries of the world comparable. The definition runs as “the term tourist shall in principle be implemented to mean any person traveling for a period of 24 hours or more in a country other than that in which he usually resides.”

On the basis of above definition, the following persons might be considered as tourists:

1. Persons traveling for pleasure, for domestic reasons, health etc.

2. Persons traveling for meeting or missions of any kind (scientific, administrative, diplomatic, religious, athletic etc.)

3. Persons traveling for business purposes.

4. Persons arriving in the course of a sea cruise even though they stay for less than 24 hours.

Tourism is defined as the some total of an operation which is directly related with the entry, stay and the movement of tourist from one place to another place inside or outside the certain country, city or origin. It is a temporary or short term movement of people to the destination outside the nations or outside the places where they used to live and work and their activities during their stay at the destination. It includes the movements for any purpose as well as the day visit or excursion.

COMPONENTS/ ELEMENTS OF TOURISM:

1. Attraction:

Attractions are those elements which determine the choice of a tourist to visit one place rather than another. In other words attractions are those elements in the tourist product which determine the choice of particular tourist to visit any place. Attractions are the preconditions of travel without which, tourist will not be motivated to visit a particular place. Basically there are two types of attraction that create willingness to travel. They are:

a) Man made (artificial attraction): Historical sites and archeological sites, cultural attractions, festivals and ceremonies, hotels, resorts and restaurant, zoos and museums, trade fair exhibition, national parks, spa

b) Natural attraction: Natural heritages like lake, rivers, waterfalls, mountains hills, valleys, forest, jungle natural wonder, flora and fauna etc.

It is notable that underdeveloped attractions are only potential resources and do not become attraction unless some type of development, especially access takes place so that attraction can be used in some way. Attraction relates closely to the travel motivation because the tourist must want to visit and experience it. The success of particular attraction may change through time as travel motivation and fashion change.

The motivating factors for attractions are affected by various factors. The willingness to travel is affected by factors like geography, environment, high purchasing power, economic stability, political and legal factors, marketing, hospitality, weather, seasons etc.

Tourism can be more successful in an area if more than one type of attraction exist or can be developed. The success of a destination depends not only on its power to attract tourists but also on its ability to hold them.

2. Accessibility:

Accessibility can be regarded as means by which a tourist can reaches where the attractions are located. In the tourism point of view accessibility is to means to fulfill the degree of desire or willingness created by attractions. Tourist attractions which are located near to the tourist generating markets and are linked by a network of efficient transport receive the maximum number of tourists. The means are various modes of transportation including trekking, hiking, biking, mountaineering, or expedition etc.

Therefore transportation is the main components to reach the attractions. It is also regarded as necessary pre condition of tourism because pre conditions of travel are always movement and movement asked for transportations. Basically there are four major modes of transportations. They are:

a) Road: bus, car, vans, bikes etc

b) Air: jet aeroplane, helicopter etc

c) Railways: train

d) Water: cruise ship, boats, rafting etc.

Where there are no facilities of transportation, we can’t imagine about tourism. For tourist there must be the facility of transportation to reach the destination in a comfortable, reliable way. Actually the tourism starts with the development of road and with the transportation means. For trekkers too, trekking route should be developed.

3. Accommodation:

It is one of the major components of tourism which arises from movement and the stay of tourist. There are two most important elements of tourism. One is journey to the destination and the other stay at the destination. The journey is related to transportation and stay is related to accommodation. In the promotion of tourism accommodation sectors constitute the important segment. In the great extent tourism depends on types and quality of accommodation available to the tourist. Therefore accommodation is very important tourism infrastructure. After having reached to the destination, a tourist requires some kind of accommodation which provides him/her food and rest.

For successful tourism, accommodation must be available in sufficient quantity and quality to match the demand of the travelers who arrive at the destination. Hotels vary tremendously in their physical facilities, level of maintenance and cleanliness and services. Unless all of these factors are at satisfactory level, tourism can’t succeed. Basically there are two types of accommodation. They are:

a) Service accommodation (hotels and similar types of establishment): hotel, resorts, inns, guest house etc.

b) Supplementary accommodation: rented rooms, rented house, apartment, youth hostels etc.

4. Amenities:

Amenities are the comforts and facilities added to attraction, accessibility and accommodation. These elements themselves don’t generate the flow of tourist but whose absence might detract the tourist flow. The tourism sector shouldn’t be isolated but link with other financial, communication, health services, air ticketing, and providing facilities. The amenities include different facilities and services provided by the government as well as private sectors. Following are the various types of facilities and services provided to the tourists:

a) Facilities provided by a government sector: visa, passport, custom facility, foreign currency exchange, immigration etc.

b) Facilities provided by non governmental organization:

- Travel agency: booking tickets, hotel booking, travel and tour package etc.

- Airlines agency: rate attraction, insurance attraction, service attraction etc.

- Financial institution: it deals credit card, travel cheque, money transfer etc.

- Communication system: postal service, fax, telephone, e-mail, internet, telex etc.

- Accommodation and hotel sector: business sector, conference, swimming pool, room services, laundry, restaurants, pub and bars etc.

- Spa: it is a special kind of medical bath.

NATURE TOURISM:

Tourist generating areas are the homes of tourists where journey begin and end. The key issues to examine in tourist – generation areas are the features which stimulate demand for tourism and will include the geographical location of an area as well as its socio economic and demographic characteristics.

According to Jina (1994), there are three important resources which attract the tourists in the destination country. The resources are as follows:

1. Resources of hydrosphere

2. Resources of lithosphere

3. Resources of anthrop sphere

1. Resources of hydrosphere:

It constitutes all those attractions which are related to water or different forms of water such as snow and ice, minerals or thermal water. Apart from this, it also includes lakes, rivers, and those sites which are connected with water or its surrounding flora and fauna. Today resources of hydrosphere are considerably affected by tourism.

2. Resources of lithosphere:

It constitutes those attractions which are found on surface, whether they are prominently visible valleys, mountains, rivers etc. or leas visible dark covers, picturesque gorges etc.

3. Resources of anthrop sphere:

It represents present and past civilization. Under the past civilization, it may constitute monuments, ruins etc. They may speak of people and their activities such as folklore, handicrafts, festivals, customs, music etc. In case of modern activity these may represents technological innovation.

Gilbert (1990) provides a classification of the main types of activities which the tourist may demand of a destination area which is given below communing with nature demand for open areas, party, commons, ramblings walking etc:

Attractions: visiting zoos, safari parks, wax work, theme parks etc.

Heritage: visiting castles stately homes, museums, ancient monuments, religious sites, galleries and battlefields.

Sport activity: taking part in or watching various forms of indoor or outdoor sport including those of a specifically rural or urban nature. These would include ten pin bowling, fishing, sailing, golf, shooting, swimming.

Entertainments: other than sport, this would include visits to the cinema, theatre, bass, concerts, discos, restaurants etc.

Relaxation: sunbathing, resting, reading etc.

Health: taking health care treatment, saunas, massage, and therapy includes moral health such as religion and pilgrimage etc.

Shopping: browsing souvenir or antique hunting, special purchase trips for new outfits, gifts, new high cost equipment etc.

Business activities: meeting, conferences, exhibition etc.

Tourism is now one of the world’s major industries and continuous to expand. It can be viewed in terms of demands and supply – demand by the tourists and supply of the attraction, facilities and services, transportation, promotion and information. Tourism development brings benefits i.e. new business and jobs, additional income, new technologies, greater environmental and cultural awareness and protection, improved infrastructure and if carefully planned and controlled improved land use patterns.Tourism is not necessarily desirable or feasible for every place. Each community should examine whether there are potentials, tourist markets can be attracted to the community, whether it needs tourism to search economic development objectives. Tourist destination areas for tourists to stay temporarily will have features which may not be found in the generating areas. The tourist industry located in this area will comprise the accommodation retailing and service function, entertainment, recreation etc. Tourist flows are a form of spatial interaction between two areas with the destination area.