Tourism involves the short term movement of people to destinations outside the places where they normally live and work. It also involves the activities of people, referred to as tourists or visitors, during their visit to these destinations and the facilities and services patronized during their stay. Many studies on tourism have been conducted yet there is not one single definition that everyone complies with. The United Nations World Tourism Organization however, defines tourism as “the activities of a person’s travelling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes not related to the exercise of an activity remunerated from within the place visited.”
The idea of tourism can be recognized as long as people have travelled. The travel accounts of Marco Polo in the 13th century and the Grand Tour of the British nobles to Europe in the 18th century are all examples of Tourism. Thomas Cook is popularly regarded as the founder of inclusive tours with his use of a chartered train in 1841 to transport tourists from Leicester to Loughborough. Before the 1950s, tourism in Europe was mainly a domestic activity with some international travel between countries, mainly within central Europe. During the period of recovery following World War II, a combination of circumstances provided motivation to international travel. Among the important factors were the growing number of people in employment, the increase in real disposable income and available leisure time, and changing social attitudes towards leisure and work. These factors combined to stimulate the latent demand for foreign travel and holidays. Additionally, the emergence of specialist tour operators who organized inclusive holidays by purchasing transport, accommodations, and related services and selling these at a single price brought foreign holidays within the price-range of a new and growing group of