INTRODUCTION The Nature of Tourism: A Definition ‘Tourism is difficult to define because business travelers and convention- {goers ean combine conferences with tourist-type activities; but, in genera tourist isa temporarily leisured person who voluntarily visits a place away from home for the purpose of experiencing a change, The motivations for individuals to travel are many and varied, but the foundation of tourism rests on three key elements (all must be operative) which form an equation: Tourism = leisure + discretionary + positive local time income sanctions In the Western world and especially in the U.S., the amount time available to an individual has, in general increased since World ‘The workweek has decreased from sixty hours to forty-eight hours, then to forty hours per week, and for some occupations the workweek in 1988 al ready stands at only thirty to twenty-four hours. Personal preferences plus labor union demands have effectively lengthened paid vacations from two weeks to three, four, or more, especially for longterm employees. In addi- tion, the dates of observance for several national holidays have been shifted 10 Mondays to provide for additional three-day weekends. Early retirement id increased longevity (American overseas are not uncommon), of Americans with sub- rment income have created a significant genera2 Introduction tion of youthful seni recurring activity. Discretionary income is money not needed for personal essentials such 2 food, ransportation, and so forth. How- with vague uncertainties concerning, jerrorism or the diseases such as AIDS) have tended to discourage the ing.” As Graburn notes (chapter 1), the Protestant work ethic ‘was once pervasive in the U.S.: to work was right, moral, and satisfying ‘This work philosophy has largely disappeared among Americans born after World War Il, The modern generation seeks instant happiness, and its work goal is to earn money with which to play. Translated into tourism, the extra ‘money once saved for home, car, or a““rainy day” becomes the means to travel zens for whom tourism is an important and ‘On a broader scale, American wives were not commonly employed cutside the home until World War Il, when women were needed for the ‘manufacture of war materiel. Having become accustomed to wage income, and with public sanctioning of their dual role as employee and house. wife/ mother, the numbers of working wives has grown consistently since) the mid-1940s, Many Amer prepay travel arrangements, taking the vacation and paying for it even months later, nt plan, ‘The sanctions for travel are closely linked el to be undertaken, there may be substantial numbers of lonely lets. Their motivations and travel destinations are highly varied, but a sampling may be instructive: To escape the pressures of ci quiet weekend in the country, aw have a second home (chapter 10) hobbies such as skiing and sail hey can opt for a quick and from the telephone. They may also 4 permanent hideaway, or pursue akernately, they may enjoy the city’ attractions of museums, theater, and gourmet restaurants. Which cone of these—or many other choices—is upon will depend on. how much time and money is available, as well as peer group approval To find fresh air and outdoor recreation, one could vista local ty 3. Introduction (given the fact tl time, money, and energy) becomes a matter of sanctions. dwellers often use tourism as a means to meet and cruises and “singles only’ tours are travel industry ip me prefer- able to travel by plane; to ride a transcontinental bus carries a stigma of poverty. In Europe trains and railroad stations are noted for their good in the U.S. most stations have no food service and trains provide only snack bars or precooked meas, The tourism formula and accompanying examples are cited because | believe them to be prophetic for tourism in the future. To date, the most industrialized nations have generated the greatest percentage of tour- ists, and Germans, Americans, French, Japanese, Swiss and Swed quent travelers. However, as underdeveloped countries develo economies, their citizens will similarly benefit from increased income and shortened hours of work. Already the stimulus for personal travel is evi- dent, For example, India was once a Third World country. In 1987, thanks " and modernization, India ranks as one of the il nations. Local newspapers now regularly carry are already operative, and with increased leisure and greater discretionary income, more Indians wll ake vacations and travel within their own coun y. A guide in India expressed the hope that domestic tourism by tors. large measure4 Introduction the worlds, and whose economies are just beginning to generate the compo- nents for tourism of leisuretime, discretionary income, and pul ten million by 1991, estimating that they would spend almost us611 billion in that year. This first known example of a government advocating foreign sm is designed to “help narrow Japan wide trade surplus and to in- ease its national ties with other nations. A total of 5,520,000 Japanese trav- «led overseas in 1986 but, although a recor, it represented only 4 percent of Japan's population” (Wall Street journal, 16 September 1987). And in the same year, the Canadian government announced the lobal Con- ference, Tourism—A Vital Force for Peace” to be held in Vancouver in to maintain that standing, and increase in importance in a variety of socal and economic milieus. Types of Tourism y rexts. Different forms of tourism can be defined in terms of the sured mobility undertaken by the tourist, and may be identified as five types: Exhnic tourism is marketed to the public in terms of the “quaint” cus- peoples, exemplified by the case studies on the Eskimo, the San Blas Indians of Panama, and the Tora rism includes the "picturesque ‘of a vanishing life-style that lies within human memory 5 Introduction nd Spain. Host-guest stresses may be maximal because the rural peasant areas are often readily accessible from tourist resorts, and large numbers of vistors come for the very purpose of observing and photo- graphing the lives of peasants who become objects of study per se. torical tourism is the Museum-Cath the Past—i.e., Rome, Egypt, and the ities include guided tours of monuments and and sound performances that encapsul and key events that textbooks reco many education-oriented visitors, and tourism is fa gets are cither in or readily accessible to large tourism is primarily geographic, many education-oriented travelers enjoy driving through mountains and country- side to observe man-land relationships. Popular destination activities include tours of local industries such as tea farms and processing pl Ceylon, or salmon canneries in Alaska. One of the recogni —promoted by beau- were” —on the ski slopes, iged beaches, the championship golf courses, or sunning in a tourists who want to relax or commune with nature center upon participation a5 good food and convivial enter type of reer and the away-from-home freedom to indulge in the new morality. Again, epitomizes anoth