Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
• Visits to a country by non-residents and outbound tourism residents of a country
visiting another country.
• Internal tourism: residents of a country visiting their own country.
• Domestic tourism: internal tourism plus inbound tourism (the tourism market of
accommodation facilities and attractions within a country).
• National tourism: internal tourism plus outbound tourism (the resident tourism market
for travel agents and airlines) (WTO, cited in R.Chadwick 1994:66).
In order to improve statistical collection and improve understanding of tourism, the
United Nations (1994) and the WTO (1991a) also recommended differentiating between
visitors, tourists and excursionists (day trippers). The WTO (199la) recommended that an
international tourist be defined as 'a visitor who travels to a country other than that in
which he/she has his/her usual residence for at least one night but not more than one year,
and whose main purpose of visit is other than the exercise of an activity remunerated
from within the country visited' and that an international excursionist (e.g. cruise ship
visitors) be defined as 'a visitor residing in a country who travels the same day to a
country other than which he/she has his/her usual environment for less than 24 hours
without spending the night in the country visited and whose main purpose of visit is other
than the exercise of an activity remunerated from within the country visited'. Similar
definitions were also developed for domestic tourists, with domestic tourists having a
time limit of 'not more than six months' (WTO 1991a; UN 1994).
Interestingly, the inclusion of a same-day travel, 'excursionist' category in UN/WTO
technical definitions of tourism makes the division between recreation and tourism even
more arbitrary, and there is increasing international agreement that 'tourism' refers to all
activities of visitors, including both overnight and same-day visitors (UN 1994:5). Given
improvements in transport technology, same-day travel is becoming increasingly
important to some countries, with the UN (1994:9) observing that 'day visits are
important to consumers and to many providers, especially tourist attractions, transport
operators and caterers'.
R.Chadwick (1994) moves the definition of tourists a stage further by offering a
typology of travellers (tourists) which highlights the distinction between tourists
(travellers) and non-travellers (non-tourists) which is summarised in Figure 2.11. Figure
2.11 is distinctive because it highlights all sections of society which are involved in travel
of some kind, but it also looks at the motivation to travel. It is also useful because it
illustrates where technical problems may occur in deciding which groups to include in
tourism and which to exclude. From this classification of travellers, the distinction
between international and domestic tourism needs to be made. Domestic tourism
normally refers to tourists who travel from their normal domicile to other areas within a
country. In contrast, international tourism normally involves tourists leaving their country
of origin to cross into another country which involves documentation, administrative
formalities and movement to a foreign environment.
