Types of Tourism and Tourist
Spatial and characteristic diversity among destinations alongside motivational drives have given rise to as many forms of tourism as it can be convenient. These many forms of tourism have emerged on the basis of the types of travel experiences provided at the destinations.
Types of Tourism and Tourist
Types of Tourism
The common typology of tourism is as follows.
i) Domestic Tourism
Domestic Tourism means that the movement of people outside their normal domicile to other areas within the boundaries of the nation. In Nepal, domestic tourism is referred to as the sleeping giant, referring to its vast potentials.
The person who travels within the borders of his own country for leisure, Pleasure, recreation, business purpose is called domestic tourism. It is also called national or internal tourism.
ii) International Tourism
International tourism involves the movement of people among different countries in the world. In other words, when people travel to a country other than their own country, in which they normally live and which has its separate identify in terms of political, economic and social setup. International tourism requires various types of legal and financial formalities to be met before departing from his/ her country. In international tourism, the country of origin (tourist generating country) and the country of destination (tourist receiving or the host country) are different.
This type of tourism has direct impact on the economy of the host country, in terms of foreign exchange earnings, balance of payments, employments generation, destination development and infrastructure development. In ‘out bound’ tourism, the people of a country visit other countries for various purposes such as, leisure, business, education, pilgrimage, political conferences and conventions, etc. International tourism has two types viz., ‘Inbound tourism’ and ‘Out bound’ tourism. In fact, inbound tourism brings travel receipts, whereas outbound tourism implies (involves) travel cost.
In International Tourism you will come across two other terms:
i) Inbound: This refers to tourists entering a country.
ii) Outbound: This refers to tourists leaving their country of origin for another.
On the basis of the purpose tourism can be classified as follows:
Religious Tourism
From ancient time to till date, religion has been a motivating force for tourism. Every religion has cast upon its followers some duties that involve travel and tourism. The Hindus want to visit Janakpur, Pasupatinath, Muktinath, Kasi. The muslims go to visit Mecca and Methina as Huz visits, which is considered as holy. The Christian pay visit to Jerusalem &vaticanand Buddhist wants to go Lumbanionce in life time, which is considered to be auspicious. In Nepal, the domestic tourism is almost a religious tourism.
Pleasure or Leisure Tourism
Pleasure and leisure are basic pulls of tourism people want to escape from their some daily routine job. This makes them to look for leisure activities and travel as escape from the pressures and strains they are subject to. We friends pleasure in travelling from the fact of constantly changing places and surroundings. The travel purposes in leisure include activities of holiday, sports (non-professional), cultural events and visits to friends and relatives (VFR). Tourism activities on these aspects get termed on their focus of travel as Beach Tourism, Mountain Tourism, Sports Tourism, Cultural Tourism, Ethnic Tourism, Religious Tourism and Health Tourism and So on.
Educational Tourism
Educational pursuits make them to travel. In pursuit of knowledge, people travel far and wide. In ancient times, scholars and pandits kept on travelling. Travel makes a person wiser. Hence, it is said that travel itself is educative. With the growing awareness of the value of education, educational tourism is assuming importance.
Health Tourism
People undertake travel for health reasons also. Health care facilities are available only in few places or some health centres are unique in their nature. Health conscious people want to move to these places.
The development of spas during the Roman Empire and the establishment of many sanatoria in Switzerland were the result of people’s desire to seek good health. Many people travel to spas and clinics for curative booth and medical treatment. In Nepal there are several places and People visit these places also.
Business Tourism
Business, which is one’s work, occupation or profession, is the other situation, which necessitates travel. This travel helps people to attend to meetings, exhibitions and trade fairs, conference and conventions, thereby the partakers experience all the sectors of tourism which formulate this classification namely Business Tourism. Though all the activities under this classification gets termed as Business Tourism itself, in the recent past of 1990’s it is being referred to as MICE an acronym for Meetings, Incentives, Conference and Exhibitions.
Adventure Tourism
Now, many activities are encouraged under adventure tourism. There are varieties of activities such as mountaineering, trekking, skilling, wind suffering, para gliding, etc. Every bit of nature, the hills, rivers, seas, etc. provide scope for adventures. Nepal is one of the popular destinations for adventures activities.
Sport Tourism
Nowadays, people give much importance to sporting activities. International and national sport meets, cricket matches, football matches and other matches are great attraction for people. Sports tourism results by the movement of both participants and sport admires to places where sport events are held.
Wild Life Tourism
Young and old, alike like wild life tourism very much and that several tourist centres have excellent and unusual Zoo, where visitors can see wild animals more easily including some rare and endangered species. Jwalakhel zoo in our country is one of the famous Zoo, where large numbers of people visit daily. Nowadays many tours are built around different sanctuaries and national parks.
Resort Tourism
Beach resorts and hill resorts attract more tourists. Tourism practiced by visits to these resorts is called as resort tourism. In Nepal, we have such potentials for resort tourism. On the basis of the seasonal character.
Winter Tourism
In most of the European Countries, this type of tourism takes place in the month of December to March. Winter tourism has two aspects – the search for snow and search for sunshine.
Summer Tourism
Tourism practiced during summer holidays in known as summer tourism. The main incentives for this type of tourism are sunshine and sun bathing, preferably in the sea.
Circumstantial Tourism
It is a localized tourism as it is attracted by traditions, festivals of religions, artistic, sportive, folklores, nature, etc. on the basis of sociological aspects tourism can be classified as under.
Cultural Tourism
There are cultural diversities among nations and within a nation. This arouses curiosity in people to visit other countries and other parts of their own country. The cultural heritage expressed in arts, customs, theatre, festival, ceremonies, music, dance, folklore, etc. vary from place to place. Tourism undertaken to know the culture of others is known as cultural tourism. Nepal being a country of diverse cultures, cultural tourism is our main stay.
Ethnic Tourism
Ethnic tourism results when people visit their homeland or hometown or friends and relatives. The place visited has some historical connections with the tourists. A large number of Americans visit European countries in order to see their families or because they feel they are visiting their homeland. Every year, thousands of Nepalese settled abroad visit Nepal for ethnic reasons.
Social Tourism
It is a type of tourism undertaken by low-income groups of people, particularly manual workers and other workers who cannot afford to pay for travel and accommodation. So social tourism is subsidized by the country, local authorities, employers, trade union, clubs or other associations to which the workers belong.
Mass Tourism
The concept of mass tourism is the contribution of paid holidays, development of transportation, communication and information technology. Mass tourism is primarily s quantitative notion and refers to participation of very large number of people in tourism activities.
Package Tourism
It is type of tourism, in which the itineraries, transport accommodation and other facilities are standardized and offered as ‘package’ at a fixed price to intending tourists. There are all inclusive, transport and accommodation only inclusive of and other types of inclusive packages. Packages tours are convenient for both single tourists and group tourists. They are designed and operated by professional tour operators and travel agents.
Historical Tourism:
Any Tourism activity that is taken-up with Historical Locations as the Tourist Attraction. This form of tourism was the first form of tourism that many tourists loved to participate. Only recently, the tourism forms are taking a business dimensions.
Special Interest Tourism:
Tourism activities emerging on the aspect of special Interest are specifically known as special interest tourism or commonly known as Adventure tourism. To cite a few of this type are Trekking, Rafting, Bungee Jumping, Scuba diving, Snow skiing, Para gliding, and Rock claiming.
Eco Tourism:
Eco-tourism means travelling to relatively undisturbed or uncontaminated natural areas with the specific objectives of studying, admiring and enjoying the scenery, wild plants and animals along with existing cultural manifestation of the locality. Eco-tourism being the answer or the alternative to mass tourism gets termed as Nature tourism, Green tourism, Responsible tourism, appropriate tourism and Alternative tourism depending upon the degree of focus on the aspect of conservation of nature.
Rural tourism
Rural tourism showcases rural life, art, culture and heritage of rural locations, benefitting the local community economically and socially as well as enabling interaction between the tourists and locals for a more enriching tourism experience. Rural tourism is multi-faceted and may entail farm/agricultural tourism, cultural tourism, nature tourism, adventure tourism, and ecotourism.
Rural tourism has certain characteristics: it is experience oriented; locations are sparsely populated; it is predominantly in a natural environment; it meshes with seasonality and local events; and it is based on preservation of culture, heritage and traditions. Nepal‘s rural geographical and cultural diversity enables it to offer a wide range of tourism products and experiences. Increasing levels of awareness, growing interest in heritage and culture, improved accessibility to rural areas, and environmental consciousness are playing an important role in promoting rural tourism.
Sustainable tourism
“Sustainable tourism is envisaged as leading to management of all resources in such a way that economic, social and aesthetic needs can be fulfilled while maintaining cultural integrity, essential ecological processes, and biological diversity and life support systems.” (World Tourism Organization). Sustainable development implies “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987).
MICE tourism
MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions) tourism is also one of the fastest growing in the global tourism industry. It largely caters to business travelers, mostly corporates.
It caters to various forms of business meetings, international conferences and conventions, events and exhibitions. Hong Kong, Malaysia and Dubai are the top destinations for MICE tourism. Nepal is also present in this segment.
This form of tourism combines annual business meetings and conferences with pleasurable events for delegates and attendants. Nepal can be competitive with other MICE tourism destinations owing to its natural beauty, rich heritage and geographical diversity.
Types of Tourism and Tourist
Type of Tourist:-
Typology according to the region covered:
a) Domestic Tourist: A domestic tourist is a person who travels for a purpose other than exercising a gainful activity or settling at the place visited by him. He travels within his own country and does not leave her boarders at any point of time during his tour. A person from Pokhara going for a holiday to Chitwan is a domestic tourist.
b) Foreign Tourist: Those people travelling from one country to another country, crossing national boarders or through immigration check points. International tourist may be inbound or outbound
c) Inbound Tourist: – this refers to incoming tourists or tourists entering a country. For example, Malaysian citizens travelling to Nepal would be considered as inbound tourists for Nepal and outbound tourists for Malaysia
d) Outbound Tourist: – this refers to outgoing tourists or tourists leaving their country of origin to travel to another country
The classifications of tourists based on their behaviour. Its number has grown over the years. These typologies serve as guide to tourism business owners as to what products, services and facilities should be sold to certain tourists having the same behavior. Marketers and planners as well as managers of tourism businesses consider these typologies to guide their marketing, planning, and development and management functions.
- Business Tourist: travel is related to business and the world of work. MESE which stands for meetings, exhibitions and special events. These are all part of the business world. All major cities have conference centres that cater for the needs of business tourists. An example of a business tourist would be a salesman who travels to another city to attend a trade show and promote the products he sells.
- Education tourists: travel to attend a place of learning in another town, city, or country, in order to study for or improve a qualification. They may also be people that attend workshops to learn new skills or improve existing ones. A clinic nurse who travels to another province to attend a workshop about infectious diseases is an example of an educational tourist.
- Incentive Tourists: are people who are rewarded in the form of a company paid holiday for their hard work, or for achieving goals set by their company. This incentive to travel motivates employees to work harder, improves work relationships, and builds team spirit. A salesman who receives a holiday package for achieving the most sales in the company is an example of an incentive tourist.
- Health or Medical Tourist: travel because they want to visit a holiday spa, needs medical special treatment that is only available away from home, undergo procedures that are cheaper in another country, or are recovering from an illness in a healthier climate. Many tourist come from oversees countries to South Africa to have plastic surgery.
- Adventure Tourist: want an unusual and exciting experience. They want to participate in activities that may be dangerous, such as rock climbing, river rafting, skydiving and bungee jumping.
- Cultural Tourist: want to experience different cultures, such as Mithila art, or cultural related festivals such as the IndraJatra, or Gaijatra. They would also want to experience the World Heritage Sites in the country.
- Leisure Tourist: want to rest and relax and have a break from the usual routine Examples of this type of tourism are a cruise on a cruise liner, a trip on a Blue train, attending a special music special music performance or relaxing on the beach.
- Religious Tourist: want to see and experience places of religious importance. There are many religious destinations in the world such as the Hajj in Mecca, Jerusalem in Israel, Varanasi in India, the Vatican in Rome and Lumbani in Nepal.
- Shopping Tourist: travel to shopping malls, shopping centres, factory shops, crafts market, festivals, and touring shopping routes such as the Thamel in Kathmandu and Lakeside in Pokhara, Their main purpose is to buy items.
- Special Interest Tourist (STI): have particular interest such as bird watching, food and wine, flowers, fishing etc.
- Sport and Recreation Tourist: participate in or watch sporting events. Popular events include the Football World Cup, Elephant polo; IPL, Surfing, mountain climbing, swimming, golf and tennis are popular sports.
- Visiting Friends and Relatives: (VFR) tourists are visiting family or relatives and therefore they are unlikely to spend as much on tourism as they are not using accommodation facilities.
