Lesson 1. Definition of Tourism

Tourism covers all activities of people travelling to and staying in places outside their normal environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business or other purposes.

By travelling we understand the act of moving, however, commuting or travelling to or from work or school is excluded. People involved in tourism are called visitors. Other travellers such as immigrants, nomads, border workers, diplomats and members of armed forces are not counted for tourism purposes. Visitors are broken down into two separate groups: tourists and same-day visitors. Tourists are overnight visitors, who stay at least one night in a collective or private accommodation facility in the destination. Same-day visitors or excursionists do not stay over night. When people travel within their own country, we speak about domestic tourism. Outbound tourism involves the residents of a particular country travelling to other countries whereas if we want to describe the activity of foreigners visiting our country, we speak about inbound tourism.

The industry catering for people involved in tourism is called the tourism industry, hospitality industry or travel industry. It is an important job generating industry, offering some exciting careers for those who like dealing with people.

Vocabulary of the text

Exercise 1. Give the Ukrainian equivalents to the following words and word-combinations:

Environment, consecutive year, commute, nomad, count for, same-day visitor, overnight visitor, accommodation facility, domestic tourism, inbound, resident.

Exercise 2. Give the English equivalents to the following words and word-combinations:

звичне середовище, наступний рік, відвідувач, прикордонник, збройні сили, умови проживання, пункт призначення, екскурсант, внутрішній туризм, постійний мешканець, в’їзний туризм, виїзний туризм, гостинність, обслуговувати, який сприяє виникненню нових робочих місць.

Classification of Tourism

P re-reading

Work in pairs and think of as many kinds of tourism as you can. Which of them are developed in your area?

Reading

There are many types of tourism nowadays. They depend on the purposes of travelers. Ecotourism, also known as ecological tourism, is a form of tourism that appeals to the ecologically and socially conscious individuals. Generally speaking, ecotourism focuses on volunteering, personal growth, and learning new ways to live on the planet; typically involving travel to destinations where flora, fauna, and cultural heritage are the primary attractions. For many countries, ecotourism is not simply a marginal activity to finance protection of the environment but as a major industry of the national economy.

Adventure tourism is a type of niche tourism involving exploration or travel to remote, exotic and possibly hostile areas, where the traveler should "expect the unexpected". Adventure tourism is rapidly growing in popularity as tourists seek unusual holidays, different from the typical beach vacation. According to the (U.S.-based) global Adventure Travel Trade Association, "adventure travel" may be any tourist activity including two of the following three components: a physical activity, a cultural exchange or interaction, and engagement with nature. Adventure tourism gains much of its excitement by allowing its participants to step outside of their comfort zone. This may be from experiencing culture shock, or through the performance of acts that require significant effort and involve some degree of risk (real or perceived). This may include activities such as mountaineering, trekking, bungee jumping, rafting and rock climbing.

Medical tourism (also called medical travel or health tourism) is a term initially coined by travel agencies and the mass media to describe the rapidly-growing practice of traveling to another country to obtain health care. Such services typically include elective procedures as well as complex specialized surgeries such as joint replacement (knee/hip), cardiac surgery, dental surgery, and cosmetic surgeries.

Spa towns may be considered an early form of medical tourism. In eighteenth century England, for example, medtrotters visited spas because they were places with supposedly health-giving mineral waters, treating diseases from gout to liver disorders and bronchitis. Popular medical travel worldwide destinations include: India, Brunei, Cuba, Colombia, Hong Kong, Hungary, Jordan, Lithuania, Malaysia, The Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand, and recently, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Tunisia and New Zealand.

Cultural tourism' (or culture tourism) is the subset of tourism concerned with a country or region's culture, especially its arts. It generally focuses on traditional communities who have diverse customs, unique form of art and distinct social practices, which basically distinguishes it from other types/forms of culture. Cultural tourism includes tourism in urban areas, particularly historic or large cities and their cultural facilities such as museums and theatres. It can also include tourism in rural areas showcasing the traditions of indigenous cultural communities (i.e. festivals, rituals), and their values and lifestyle.

Camping and Caravan Tourism has gone through fast transformation connected with the development of recreational vehicles. Tents are no longer the only type of accommodation to be seen at campsites. People come in various mobile homes, sometimes also called campers, which are motorised road vehicles providing sleeping, kitchen, lounge and often shower and toilet facilities. The shift from tents to campers forced the owners of campsites to upgrade their properties. Today campgrounds are located near touring roads and are usually designed as integrated resorts with adequate infrastructure, especially water supply, waste management and electric power distributed to individual camper pitches. Tourists without their own shelters can stay in chalets or bungalows.

Religious tourism is a term used for pilgrimages, or trips being made to important religious sites. It is a significant form of tourism for all religions of the world. Some sites attract mostly domestic tourists, while others also attract large numbers of international pilgrims. Appropriate crowd management techniques must usually be applied to avoid problems in destinations, which can become fairly congested during pilgrimages.

Rural tourism is very popular in some European countries. The primary tourism-generating markets for this type of holiday are highly developed urbanized areas. Many people living in large cities wish to escape from the hurly-burly of everyday life and this seems to be a good alternative for them. Farmers offer accommodation in their farmhouses, country cottages or country mansions, they sell home-made food products, rent mountain bikes or offer horse-riding on their property, or pony-trekking, walking or hiking in wild nature.