TYPES OF TOURISM

Anyone who spends at least one night away from home (normal place of living) is regarded as a tourist, no matter what the purpose of visit is. In other words tourists are temporary visitors who do the act of tour and the purpose of travel is leisure and pleasure. The origin of the word tourist is dated back to the year 1292 A.D., which was derived from the Latin word ‘tornus’ which means a tools for describing the circle.

According to the oxford dictionary, the word tourist was used as early as 1800 A.D. The most widely accepted and technical definition of a tourist was proposed by international union of official travel organization (IUOTO). In 1963 A.D. and approved by world tourism organization (WTO) in 1968 A.D. , it states that tourists are temporary visitors staying at least for 24 hours in the country visited and the purpose of visit can be classified under one of the following headings:

1)      By product

-          Mass tourism

-          Alternative

2)      By the nature of activity

-          Active

-          Passive

3)      By the nature of activity

-          Rural

-          City

-          Mountains

-          Lakes

4)   Duration of trip

      -     Day trip-Local

      -     Weekend break-National

      -     Annual holiday-International

5)   By age/ socio economic

      -      Backpackers (FIT- free independent tourist)

      -      DINKS (Double income no kids)

      -      SINKS (Single income no kids)

Stanley Plog’s (1972) psychographic research applied to the tourism industry has identified two diametrically opposite groups i.e. the Allocentric traveler and Psycocentric traveler based on the ground personality type. The Allocentric discovers new destination by word of mouth from other Allocentric and usually technical sources. The Allocentric group does not constitute a significant or profitable market segment. Although an Allocentric will devote considerable time and money to discretionary travel, the majority of his expenditures are for transportation to and from the destination.

The near Allocentric represents the first market segment capable of being attracted to a planned tourism development. The near Allocentric region will have a culture and a climate different from those of the visitor’s home. The built environment in near Allocentric destination should contain accommodation and food service facilities of excellent quality. Mid centric are far more conservative than near Allocentric contemporaries. They have a high need for security and approved and will not visit any new destination until it is fully accepted by the near Allocentric market. A mid centric tourist selects a destination with a markedly different climate and some minor cultural differences but in all other aspects quite similar to his own.

1.      Allocentric:

-          Willing to explore new society, culture, climate

-          Bear high risk and heavily avoid the highly developed area

-          Covers small part so don’t contribute for market

-          Involve in adventurous activities and adopt change situation

-          Open to itenary (routine) and don’t extend their duration

2.      Psycocentric:

-          Never bear risk by themselves

-          Bear risk on the activities only after done by Allocentric tourist

-          Open and extend their duration

-          Don’t contribute for the market development

-          Explore developed destination

-          Show common activities

-          Plan focused, flexible travel duration

-          Believe on chain market (e.g. Mc Donald)

3.      Midcentric:

-          Possess the characteristics of both Allocentric and Psycocentric

-          Sometimes avoid risk and sometimes not

-          Covers high part and contribute for market development

-          Fixed travel plan

Other types of tourist:

Ø  Cultural tourist: interested about culture and explore them

Ø  Leisure tourist: recreational, holiday, health, study, religion, sports etc.

Ø  Business tourist: special mission, meetings, seminars, conference, workshops etc.

Ø  Elite tourist: interested in history and explore historical heritages

Ø  Ecological tourist: interested in nature and explore natural heritages

Ø  Farm based tourist: rural tourist and explore rural area

Ø  Family visit: local tourist and visit families

            There are no definite rules for the division of tourists. Different scholars’ has divided tourists under different headings. There are not any hard and fast rules regarding the classification of tourist. Researchers had categorize according to the age group, tour type, size of a group, economic purpose of visit and the duration of stay etc. Different authors, scholars or tourism experts have expressed their views and opinions very differently regarding the tourism typology. Instead of this the world tourism organization (WTO) has divided tourist into the following categories:

1.      Leisure tourist: tourist traveling for utilizing their leisure time on pleasure

2.      Recreational tourist: tourist traveling for recreational or pleasure and entertainment

3.      Holiday tourist: tourist traveling for utilizing holidays.

4.      Study tourist: educational tours, traveling for study purpose

5.      Special mission tourist: tourist traveling to the special missions likes shopping, meetings, seminars, workshops etc.

6.      Pilgrimage tourist: tourists traveling for religious purpose.

7.      VFR tourist: tourist traveling for visiting friends and relatives.

            Tourist typology can be grouped into general categories i.e. interactional type and cognitive normative model. The first one emphasizes the manner of interaction between visitors and destination areas where as the cognitive normative models stress the motivation behind travel. On the other hand Valene Smith in 1989 has identified 7 types of tourists which can be listed as below:

1.      Explorer: They travel in a limited number looking for discoveries of new places and involvement with the local people. They easily accommodate to local norms in housing, food and lifestyle of the local people.

2.      Elite: These types of tourist usually travel for pleasure and entertainment. They are individually motivated tourist. They are consul with the culture of natives and their interest is to see their life style of the local people.

3.      Off beat: They desire to go away from the crowds and heighten the excitement of their vacation by doing something beyond the norms. These types of tourists include those who currently visit Toraja regency to see the funerals, trek on Nepal to go alone in point hope as part of an Alaskan tour.

4.      Unusual: They do not want to follow the recognized destinations. Their objectives of making tour are to make more risks. They are more adventurous. They visit with peculiar objectives such as physical danger or isolation. These groups tend to be interested in the primitive culture but are much happier with the safe box lunch and bottled soda rather than a native feast.

5.      Incipient mass: These are the individuals from a small organized group and make tour using some share services. Such types of tourists prefer going together and paying separate.

6.      Mass tourist: They are individuals from a big group which may include a package tour to overseas. Economically they are categorizing as middle class tourists. There is a continuous influx of visitors who inundate Hawaii most of the year, and other areas at least seasonally including European resorts and northern hemisphere winter vacation land such as coastal Mexico and the Caribbean.

7.      Chattered mass: This type of tourist comprises a mass travel to relocation destination, which incorporate many standardized western facilities as far as possible.  These types of tourists arrive on mass as in Waikiki and for every 747 planeload, there is a fleet of at least ten big buses waiting to transfer them from the airport to the designated hotel in the lobby of which is a special tour desk to provide itineraries cared other group services.

            According to V.L. Smith, tourism typology may be as follows:

1.      Ethnic tourism:

            In this type of tourism, tourists mostly take interest to visit the independent ethnic groups of different parts of the world. The purpose of visit is to learn particular way of living or lifestyle of primitive people. The nature of visit is learning. The tourist will stay in native houses and take their food. There is a frequent interaction between the tourist and local community.

2.      Cultural tourism:

            In this type of tourism, tourists see day to day behavior of the local community. Tourists are not encouraged to interact with locals and interpreter or guide is used so that host behavior might not be changed. Accommodation units are built outside the village as cultural group.

3.      Historical tourism:

            The purpose of visit in this type of tourism is to know and study about the glories of past. So tourists do visit to various archaeological sites and historical sites museums etc. like Kathmandu durbar square, Patan durbar square, pyramid in Egypt.

4.      Environmental tourism:

            In this type of tourism, tourists are motivated to visit or travel exotic/ exciting places so that they can see appreciate, enjoy man land relationship. It may also include some negative impacts. So prior due consideration and proper management need to be carried out.

5.      Recreational tourism:

                        In this type of tourism, tourists specially visit to those places where they can enjoy casinos, sea beaches and other places for pleasure and entertainment. Such tourists usually prefer their own cuisine or national food. The purpose of visit is to get more relaxation and recreation rather than adventure. E.g. casino of Las Vegas, Esselworld etc.