Tourism
Tourism is a social, cultural and economic phenomenon which entails the movement of people to countries or places outside their usual environment for personal or business / professional purposes. History has taught us that people travel and engage in tourism activities in increasing numbers when several basic conditions can be met. Before people can experience tourism they usually need at least:-
1. disposable income, ie. money to spend on non-essentials 2. leisure time 3. tourism infrastructure, such as transport and accommodation. 4. Other factors such as health and motivation to travel are also important.
Tourism has become a highly popular global leisure activity. Increased disposable income and leisure time, the development of transport and accommodations, low cost air fares, emerging markets and expanding economies have all contributed to a boost in travel. According to the World Tourism Organization (WTO), January through April of 2007 saw a rise of over 6% arrivals, raising the number of trips to 252 million. This represents an additional 15 million from the same period in 2006.
When the people have disposable income to support their daily needs and other expenditures, the extra left will be saved and used to travel because travel can relax one’s mind and reduce stress on daily working life. The amounts of disposable income will determine the place to travel whether is domestic or international.
Changes in leisure time also make a great impact on tourism. The increasing flexibility of working hours can provide benefits to employees in terms of greater freedom to choose when to go on holiday. For some countries within the European Union, their employees are given four weeks paid holiday. This holiday cannot be exchanged for cash so those employees can choose whether to have more holiday or additional pension contributions. Earlier retirement in Europe also increase the leisure time of the people to have more
1. disposable income, ie. money to spend on non-essentials 2. leisure time 3. tourism infrastructure, such as transport and accommodation. 4. Other factors such as health and motivation to travel are also important.
Tourism has become a highly popular global leisure activity. Increased disposable income and leisure time, the development of transport and accommodations, low cost air fares, emerging markets and expanding economies have all contributed to a boost in travel. According to the World Tourism Organization (WTO), January through April of 2007 saw a rise of over 6% arrivals, raising the number of trips to 252 million. This represents an additional 15 million from the same period in 2006.
When the people have disposable income to support their daily needs and other expenditures, the extra left will be saved and used to travel because travel can relax one’s mind and reduce stress on daily working life. The amounts of disposable income will determine the place to travel whether is domestic or international.
Changes in leisure time also make a great impact on tourism. The increasing flexibility of working hours can provide benefits to employees in terms of greater freedom to choose when to go on holiday. For some countries within the European Union, their employees are given four weeks paid holiday. This holiday cannot be exchanged for cash so those employees can choose whether to have more holiday or additional pension contributions. Earlier retirement in Europe also increase the leisure time of the people to have more
References: 1. http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Tourism_industry 2. http://media.unwto.org/en/content/understanding-tourism-basic-glossary 3. http://www.asirt.org/KnowBeforeYouGo/LeisureTravel/tabid/203/Default.aspx 4. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2526023?seq=1 5. Changes_in_leisure_time_the_impact_on_tourism.pdf 6. THE ROLE OF INFRASTRUCTURE IN GENERATING MULTIPLYING EFFECTSFOR TOURISM DEVELOPMENT.pdf