The tourism industry is rapidly becoming one of the fastest growing and successful industries, with revenue of recorded 693 million international tourist arrivals in 2001, reported by World Tourism Organization (WTO), nevertheless its definition cannot be agreed on.
Youell (1998; pg.9) presents a definition given by WTO in 1993 defining tourism as “activities of persons travelling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure and other purposes.”
During the nineteen century, there was a surge of mass tourism due to the advancement of all types of transportation as well as the development of seaside resorts. Society had greater income and more time for leisure (Urry, 2002; pg 16).
Although tourism industry continued to grow, there was a shift in the tourism behaviour, WTO justifies this behaviour stating that society had become more aware of the environment and developed the sudden interest in different activities and opportunities involving local culture.
Fennel describes alternative tourism as “small scale”; “locally-oriented”, tourists became more aware of local communities and with the environment. This theory is supported by WTO adding that consumers are now looking for “special, high quality, unforgettable experiences in which they can be active participants”. Furthermore it is added that special interest tourism is an extra motivation to tourist interest in engaging in more specific activities.
Focusing solely on this topic, the author is to write a report on the grounds of special interest tourism. In order to achieve this, the author has chosen to analyze the surroundings of ecotourism in Amazon, Brazil. Therefore the report should offer the reader, provided with a justification, a sight full reportage based on one only special interest tourism, highlighting its history, size of market, market segmentation and examples of products available for the chosen special interest
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