Tourism: Principles, Practices, Philosophies / Edition 12

by Charles R. Goeldner, J. R. Brent Ritchie

Overview

The 12th Edition of Tourism: Principles, Practices, Philosophies explores major concepts in tourism, what makes tourism possible, and how tourism can become an important factor in the wealth of any nation. Written in global terms, it provides an overview of the principles, practices, and philosophies that affect the cultural, social, economic, psychological, and marketing aspects of human travel and the tourism industry. Among the topics given expanded coverage in this edition are: B&Bs, time shares, meetings and conventions, sustainable tourism, climate change, social media, and mobile marketing.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781118071779
Publisher:	Wiley
Publication date:	09/27/2011
Edition description:	12th ed.
Pages:	512
Sales rank:	909,924
Product dimensions:	8.40(w) x 11.10(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

CHARLES R. GOELDNER, PH.D., is Professor Emeritus of Marketing and Tourism at the Leeds School of Business, University of Colorado at Boulder. He is also the founding editor of the Journal of Travel Research.

J. R. BRENT RITCHIE, PH.D., the founding Chair of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Tourism Education Council, holds the Professorship in Tourism Management, and is Chair of the World Tourism Education and Research Centre at the University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Read an Excerpt

Introduction

Bon Voyage!

You are setting off on a voyage to learn about the subject of tourism. Assuming that the forecasters and futurists are correct, you are studying the world's largest industry. Tourism is alive with dynamic growth, new activities, new destinations, new technology, new markets, and rapid changes. Record numbers of tourists are traveling the globe, attracted by an increased variety of tour packages, cruises, adventure experiences, and independent itineraries. All of these visitors and the activities they generate change local communities. They have an economic and social impact that cannot be ignored. In today's society, attention must be paid to environmental issues, cultural issues, economic issues, the way landscapes are created to appeal to tourists, and how tourists behave.

The tourism industry is global. It is big business and will continue to grow. Meeting this growth with well-planned environmentally sound development is a challenge for planning all over the world whether it is Bali, Nepal, the United States, Australia, Thailand, or Europe. The goal of this chapter and the book is to raise issues, provide frameworks, and generate your thoughtful consideration of the issues and changes facing this complex field as it operates in an increasingly technological age.

WHAT IS TOURISM?

When we think of tourism, we think primarily of people who are visiting a particular place for sight-seeing, visiting friends and relatives, taking a vacation, and having a good time. They may spend their leisure time engaging in various sports, sunbathing, talking, singing, taking rides, touring, reading, orsimply enjoying the environment. If we consider the subject further, we may include in our definition of tourism people who are participating in a convention, a business conference, or some other kind of business or professional activity, as well as those who are taking a study tour under an expert guide or doing some kind of scientific research or study.

These visitors use all forms of transportation, from hiking in a wilderness park to flying in a jet to an exciting city. Transportation can include taking a chairlift up a Colorado mountainside or standing at the rail of a cruise ship looking across the blue Caribbean. Whether people travel by one of these means or by car, motorcoach, camper, train, taxi, motorbike, or bicycle, they are taking a trip and thus are engaging in tourism. That is what this book is all about--why people travel (and why some don't) and the socioeconomic effects that their presence and expenditures have on a society.

Any attempt to define tourism and to describe its scope fully must consider the various groups that participate in and are affected by this industry. Their perspectives are vital to the development of a comprehensive definition. Four different perspectives of tourism can be identified:

1. The tourist. The tourist seeks various psychic and physical experiences and satisfactions. The nature of these will largely determine the destinations chosen and the activities enjoyed.

2. The businesses providing tourist goods and services. Businesspeople see tourism as an opportunity to make a profit by supplying the goods and services that the tourist market demands.

3. The government of the host community or area. Politicians view tourism as a wealth factor in the economy of their jurisdictions. Their perspective is related to the incomes their citizens can earn from this business. Politicians also consider the foreign exchange receipts from international tourism as well as the tax receipts collected from tourist expenditures, either directly or indirectly.

4. The host community. Local people usually see tourism as a cultural and employment factor. Of importance to this group, for example, is the effect of the interaction between large numbers of international visitors and residents. This effect may be beneficial or harmful, or both.

Thus, tourism may be defined as the processes, activities, and outcomes arising from the relationships and the interactions among tourists, tourism suppliers, host governments, host communities, and surrounding environments that are involved in the attracting and hosting of visitors. (See the Glossary for definitions of tourist and excursionist.)

Tourism is a composite of activities, services, and industries that deliver a travel experience: transportation, accommodations, eating and drinking establishments, shops, entertainment, activity facilities, and other hospitality services available for individuals or groups that are traveling away from home. It encompasses all providers of visitor and visitor-related services. Tourism is the entire world industry of travel, hotels, transportation, and all other components that, including promotion, serve the needs and wants of travelers. Finally, tourism is the sum total of tourist expenditures within the borders of a nation or a political subdivision or a transportation-centered economic area of contiguous states or nations. This economic concept also considers the income multiplier of these tourist expenditures (discussed in Chapter 14).

One has only to consider the multidimensional aspects of tourism and its interactions with other activities to understand why it is difficult to come up with a meaningful definition that will be universally accepted. Each of the many definitions that have arisen is aimed at fitting a special situation and solving an immediate problem, and the lack of uniform definitions has hampered the study of tourism as a discipline. Development of a field depends on (1) uniform definitions, (2) description, (3) analysis, (4) prediction, and (5) control.

Modern tourism is a discipline that has only recently attracted the attention of scholars from many fields. The majority of studies have been conducted for special purposes and have used narrow operational definitions to suit particular needs of researchers or government officials; these studies have not encompassed a systems approach. Consequently, many definitions of tourism and the tourist are based on distance traveled, the length of time spent, and the purpose of the trip. This makes it difficult to gather statistical information that scholars can use to develop a database, describe the tourism phenomenon, and do analyses.

The problem is not trivial. It has been tackled by a number of august bodies over the years, including the League of Nations, the United Nations, the World Tourism Organization (WTO), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the National Tourism Resources Review Commission, and the U.S. Senate's National Tourism Policy Study.

The following review of various definitions illustrates the problems of arriving at a consensus. We examine the concept of the movement of people and the terminology and definitions applied by the World Tourism Organization and those of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Later, a comprehensive classification of travelers is provided that endeavors to reflect a consensus of current thought and practice.

World Tourism Organization Definitions

The International Conference on Travel and Tourism Statistics convened by the World Tourism Organization (WTO) in Ottawa, Canada, in 1991 reviewed, updated, and expanded on the work of earlier international groups. The Ottawa Conference made some fundamental recommendations on definitions of tourism, travelers, and tourists. The United Nations Statistical Commission adopted WTO's recommendations on tourism statistics on March 4, 1993.

Tourism

WTO has taken the concept of tourism beyond a stereotypical image of "holidaymaking." The officially accepted definition is: "Tourism comprises the activities of persons traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business, and other purposes." The term usual environment is intended to exclude trips within the area of usual residence, frequent and regular trips between the domicile and the workplace, and other community trips of a routine character.

1. International tourism
1. Inbound tourism: visits to a country by nonresidents
2. Outbound tourism: visits by residents of a country to another country
2. Internal tourism: visits by residents of a country to their own country
3. Domestic tourism: internal tourism plus inbound tourism (the tourism market of accommodation facilities and attractions within a country)
4. National tourism: internal tourism plus outbound tourism (the resident tourism market for travel agents and airlines)

Traveler Terminology for International Tourism

Underlying the foregoing conceptualization of tourism is the overall concept of traveler, defined as "any person on a trip between two or more countries or between two or more localities within his/her country of usual residence." All types of travelers engaged in tourism are described as visitors, a term that constitutes the basic concept of the entire system of tourism statistics. International visitors are persons who travel for a period not exceeding 12 months to a country other than the one in which they generally reside and whose main purpose is other than the exercise of an activity remunerated from within the place visited. Internal visitors are persons who travel to a destination within their own country, that is outside their usual environment, for a period not exceeding 12 months.

All visitors are subdivided into two further categories:

1. Same-day visitors: visitors who do not spend the night in a collective or private accommodation in the country visited--for example, a cruise ship passenger spending four hours in a port

2. Tourists: visitors who stay in the country visited for at least one night--for example, a visitor on a two-week vacation

There are many purposes for a visit--notably pleasure, business, and other purposes, such as family reasons, health, and transit.

United States

The Western Council for Travel Research in 1963 employed the term visitor and defined a visit as occurring every time a visitor entered an area under study. The definition of tourist used by the National Tourism Resources Review Commission in 1973 was: "A tourist is one who travels away from home for a distance of at least 50 miles (one way) for business, pleasure, personal affairs, or any other purpose except to commute to work, whether he stays overnight or returns the same day."

The National Travel Survey of the Travel Industry Association of America (TIA) research department reported in 1998 on all round-trips with a one-way route mileage of 100 miles or more, and it reported since 1984 on all trips involving one or more nights away from home, regardless of distance. Trips are included regardless of purpose, excluding only crews, students, military personnel on active duty, and commuters.

Canada

In a series of quarterly household sample surveys known as the Canadian Travel Survey that began in 1978, trips qualifying for inclusion are similar to those covered in the National Travel Survey in the United States. The main difference is that in the Canadian survey, the lower limit for the one-way distance is 50 miles (80 kilometers) rather than 100 miles. The 50-mile figure was a compromise to satisfy concerns regarding the accuracy of recall for shorter trips and the possibility of the inclusion of trips completed entirely within the boundaries of a large metropolitan area such as Toronto.

The determination of which length of trip to include in surveys of domestic travel has varied according to the purpose of the survey methodology employed. Whereas there is general agreement that commuting journeys and one-way trips should be excluded, qualifying distances vary. The province of Ontario favors 25 miles.

In Canada's international travel surveys, the primary groups of travelers identified are nonresident travelers, resident travelers, and other travelers. Both nonresident and resident travelers include both same-day and business travelers. Other travelers consist of immigrants, former residents, military personnel, and crews.

United Kingdom

The National Tourist Boards of England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland sponsor a continuous survey of internal tourism, the United Kingdom Tourism Survey (UKTS). It measures all trips away from home lasting one night or more; these include (1) trips taken by residents for holidays, (2) visits to friends and relatives (nonholiday), or (3) trips taken for business, conferences, and most other purposes. In its findings, the UKTS distinguishes between holiday trips of short (1 to 3 nights) and long (4+ nights) duration.

The International Passenger Survey collects information on both overseas visitors to the United Kingdom and travel abroad by UK residents. It distinguishes five different types of visits: holiday independent, holiday inclusive, business, visits to friends and relatives, and miscellaneous.

Australia

The Australian Bureau of Industry Economics in 1979 placed length of stay and distance traveled constraints in its definition of tourist as follows: "A person visiting a location at least 40 kilometers from his usual place of residence, for a period of at least 24 hours and not exceeding 12 months."

In supporting the use of the WTO definitions, the Australian Bureau of Statistics notes that the term "usual environment is somewhat vague." It states that "visits to tourist attractions by local residents should not be included" and that visits to second homes should be included only "where they are clearly for temporary recreational purposes."

Comprehensive Classification of Travelers

The main types of travelers indicate the fundamental distinction between residents and visitors and the interest of travel and tourism practitioners in the characteristics of nontravelers as well as travelers. It also reflects the apparent consensus that business and same-day travel both fall within the scope of travel and tourism.

Placed to one side are some other types of travelers generally regarded as being outside the area of interest, although included in some travel surveys. Foremost among these exclusions are commuters, who seem to fall outside the area of interest to all in the travel and tourism community. Other travelers generally excluded from studies on travel and tourism are those who undertake trips within the community, which for convenience are described arbitrarily as trips involving less than a specific one-way distance, such as 100 miles. These "other travelers" have been focused on in the Nationwide Personal Transportation Surveys conducted by the U.S. Department of Transportation. The broad class of travelers categorized as migrants, both international and domestic, is also commonly excluded from tourism or travel research. They are excluded on the grounds that their movement is not temporary, although they use the same facilities as other travelers, albeit in one direction, and frequently require temporary accommodation on reaching their destination. The real significance of migration to travel and tourism, however, is not in the one-way trip in itself, but in the long-run implications of a transplanted demand for travel and the creation of a new travel destination for separated friends and relatives.

Other groups of travelers are commonly excluded from travel and tourism studies because their travel is not affected by travel promotion, although they tend to compete for the same types of facilities and services. Students and temporary workers traveling purely for reasons of education or temporary employment are two leading examples. Another frequently excluded group consists of crews, although they can be regarded as special subsets of tourists and excursionists.

Of those travelers directly within the scope of travel and tourism, basic distinctions are made among those whose trips are completed within one day. An additional meaningful division may also be made between those international travelers whose travel is between continents and those whose international travel is confined to countries within the same continent. In the case of the United States, the distinction is between (1) trips to or from the neighboring countries of Canada and Mexico or elsewhere in the Americas and (2) trips made to or from countries in Europe or on other continents.

The same type of distinction may be made between interregional and regional domestic travel. In the United States, there are eight travel regions. Travel between them would be regarded as interregional and within them as regional. In Canada, five major regions may be identified: Atlantic, Central, Prairies, West, and North. In practice, travel studies in Canada tend to show interprovincial data because of the large size of some provinces and the research and planning needs of each provincial department of tourism.

The purposes of travel go beyond those traditionally accepted because of the growing evidence that "visits to friends and relatives" (VFR) is a basic travel motivation and a distinctive factor in marketing, accounting for a major proportion of travel. In any event, "primary purpose" is an arbitrary concept because many journeys are undertaken for a combination of reasons, such as "business and vacation" as recognized in the U.S. National Travel Survey conducted by the TIA's research department.

COMPONENTS OF TOURISM AND TOURISM MANAGEMENT

Tourism is a complex phenomenon--one that is extremely difficult to describe succinctly. Any "model" of tourism must "capture" the composition--or components--of the tourism system, as well as the key processes and outcomes that occur within tourism. These processes and outcomes include the very essence of tourism, the travel experience, and the supporting means by which tourism is made possible.

Natural Resources and Environment

The most fundamental dimension of the model--indeed, the very basis of much tourism--is the Natural Resources and Environment component. Any given destination is primarily and unchangeably characterized by its physiography (the nature and appearance of its landscape) and its climate (the kind of weather it has over a period of years; i.e., the conditions of heat and cold, moisture and dryness, and wind). Finally, the third component of the natural environment is people. In the case of people, we must distinguish between two very important categories of individuals: (1) those who "belong" to the destination (its residents) and (2) those who are current or potential visitors to the destination (the tourism market).

The Built Environment

Another dimension of the tourism phenomenon is the built environment that has been created by humans. This built environment first includes the culture of the residents of the host region. As discussed in Chapter 10, the culture of a people reflects many dimensions of its past development and its current way of life. Culture is relatively a very permanent characteristic of a destination, and one that cannot (and should not) be changed simply to enhance tourism development.

The infrastructure of a tourism destination is yet another dimension that has not been put in place mainly to serve tourism. Such basic things as roads, sewage systems, communication networks, and many commercial facilities (supermarkets and retail stores) have been put in place to meet the needs of local residents. While these components of the infrastructure can also be important to visitors, their primary functions are related to the ongoing daily needs of residents. In contrast, a destination's tourism superstructure includes those facilities that have been developed especially to respond to the demands of visitors. The most obvious examples include hotels, restaurants, conference centers, car rentals, and major attractions. Because of their special tourism orientation, the characteristics of components of the superstructure are essentially determined by visitor wishes rather than resident desires even though residents often desire many benefits from certain elements of the tourism superstructure.

Technology is one of the most recent, and still increasingly influential, dimensions of the built environment that is shaping the nature of both tourism products/services and travel experiences. In many ways, technology can be viewed as one of the most distinctive and most powerful characteristics of the built environment since the dawn of modern tourism following World War II. The advent of jet aircraft and the massive invasion of telecommunications technology, linked closely with computer technology, have had a dramatic impact on the very essence of the tourism phenomenon. Indeed, each of these aspects of technology has become so pervasive and so important that they, in fact, represent very specialized elements of both the tourism infrastructure and superstructure. However, because of their unique identification with the modern era of the built environment, each merits specific identification.

A recent addition to the built environment of a destination is that of information. Increasingly, the success of a destination is determined by its ability to assemble, interpret, and utilize information in an effective manner. Information is of several types: information concerning the potential tourism market, which is essential for destination design and development; information on the level of satisfaction of current visitors regarding the quality, or enjoyment, of their visitation experience; information regarding competitors and their activities; information concerning the functioning or performance of the destination in its efforts to profitably provide attractive experiences to visitors; and information concerning the extent to which residents of the host region understand and support tourism as a long-term component of the socioeconomic system.

Finally, a dimension of tourism that often receives inadequate attention is the overall system of governance within which the tourism system functions. This topic is discussed in greater detail in Chapter 15. For present purposes, it should be noted that the system of governance surrounding tourism (the legal, political, and fiscal systems regulating its functioning) has a profound impact on the ability of a destination to compete in the international marketplace and subsequently plays a major role in determining the profitability of individual firms. While the system of governance of a country or region may be viewed as an evolutionary dimension of overall culture, it is subject to influence and change within an observable time frame. Sometimes these changes can be quite dramatic and can occur in a relatively short period of time in cultural terms. Recent/current high-profile examples include the worldwide phenomenon of deregulation and privatization and the more focused process of economic (and eventually social) integration brought about by the formation of regional trade blocs such as the European Union (EU) and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Parallel initiatives in Asia are Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and the Association of South-East Asia Nations (ASEAN). Even more recently, the events of September 11, 2001, have incited many governments to introduce new regulations concerning airline travel and entry to countries that impact on both domestic and international travel.

Operating Sectors of the Tourism Industry

The operating sectors of the tourism industry represent what many of the general public perceive as "tourism." First and foremost, the transportation sector, comprised of airlines, bus companies, and so on, tends to typify the movement of people and travel (see Chapter 5). The accommodation sector, which includes many well-known "brands" such as Hilton, Marriott, Howard Johnson, Best Western, and so on, is highly visible to the public. Similarly, the food services sector also contains a broad spectrum of brands and logos that have become part of everyday life in many communities. Examples include the world-famous chains of fast foods (McDonald's, Pizza Hut, Burger King, KFC) and internationally known gourmet restaurants such as Maxim's in Paris and Alfredo's in Rome. The accommodations and food service sectors are covered in Chapter 6.

The attractions sector also contains many well-known icons in the tourism industry. The undisputed leader of the attraction world is Disneyland/Walt Disney World. Other world-famous attractions include the upscale Louvre museum in Paris, France; the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia; Marineland and Knott's Berry Farm in the United States; the Pyramids in Egypt; Stonehenge in the United Kingdom; the Acropolis in Athens, Greece; and Niagara Falls, Canada. The primary focus of Chapter 8 is attractions.

Closely related to attractions is the events sector. Its icons include the Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany; the Calgary Stampede (Canada); the Mardi Gras of New Orleans and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; the Boston Marathon; and the Super Bowl (United States); as well as such transient events as the World Cup of Soccer and the International Summer and Winter Olympic Games.

The adventure and outdoor recreation sector is one of the most rapidly growing components of modern tourism. Changes in demographics, values, and lifestyles are creating increasing demand for activities such as golfing, skiing, snowboarding, white-water rafting, parasailing, hang gliding, mountain biking, and mountaineering. Most of these activities are characterized by both an element of thrill seeking and an element of being outdoors. A closely related desire for closeness to nature has given rise to the phenomenon of ecotourism, an ill-defined and often abused term for any type of travel activity in a natural setting (see Chapters 8 and 17).

At the other end of the "natural-manufactured" spectrum is the equally fast growing component of entertainment. Certain destinations, most notably Las Vegas, Nashville, and Branson, Missouri, have grown up on a heavy diet of world-famous entertainers. More traditionally, New York/Broadway and Los Angeles/Hollywood have used various aspects of the entertainment industry to consolidate their worldwide reputations as "must see" destinations.

Less glamorous, but still essential to the success and well-being of the tourism industry, are the travel trade sector and tourism services (see Chapter 7). The travel trade is composed of the retail travel agent and the wholesale tour operator. Both of these entities are critical to linking "experience suppliers" and the tourist. The multifaceted travel industry services sector provides yet another type of critical support for successful tourism. Computer support services, retail services, financial services, specialized consulting services, and tourism educators all make an important and usually unique contribution to the effective and efficient functioning of the complex tourism system. While the public (and even many firms themselves) do not identify themselves as part of the tourism juggernaut, the fact remains that, as soon as any one of these services becomes deficient, tourism suffers.

Spirit of Hospitality

As discussed above, the operating sectors of tourism are responsible for delivering high-quality, memorable experiences. Care must be taken, however, to wrap these experiences in a warm spirit of hospitality. Quite simply, it is not enough to deliver all the attributes of an experience in a cold or detached manner. Each individual visitor must feel that he is more than a source of cold cash revenue for the business or destination. Rather, visitors have a natural human desire for warm acceptance as they seek to enjoy the range of experiences the destination has to offer. As such, the challenge facing destinations is to deliver their experiences in a way that enables the visitors to believe they are welcome, that they truly are guests.

While tourists naturally recognize that they are transient visitors, destinations must first train industry personnel to treat the tourist with fairness, respect, and a level of politeness. Second, the destination must encourage its permanent residents to behave as friendly hosts to visitors who are in unfamiliar surroundings. They should convey a friendly attitude and, when required, offer basic information and a helpful hand. These small, but important gestures will do much to foster a destination spirit of hospitality that will, in turn, greatly enhance the perceived value of all the other aspects of the visitation experience.

Planning, Development, Promotion, and Catalyst Organizations

It is widely acknowledged that the success of tourism ultimately depends on the competence and ability of all of the operating sectors discussed above (i.e., the front line of tourism) to deliver a quality experience to each tourist--one person at a time. There is another hidden component of tourism that is equally important in determining the success of a tourism destination. It is known by the unwieldy name of planning, development, promotion, and catalyst organizations (PDPCO). It is the visionaries, policymakers, strategic planners, and individuals and groups who "make the right things happen" that are increasingly a determinant of successful tourism. In effect, in tourism it is as critical that we "do the right things" as that we "do things right." This means simply that policymakers need to ensure that their destination offers the kinds of travel experiences that are most appropriate to the visitor, always keeping in mind any limitations imposed by the resources of the destination.

Once the appropriate experiences have been identified through effective planning, it is essential to ensure that plans are translated into the facilities, events, and programs that are necessary to provide the visitor with the given experience "on the ground."

The organization responsible for providing the insight and leadership necessary to envisage and bring policies and plans into reality is increasingly referred to as the destination management organization (DMO). The specific identity of this organization depends on the "level" of the destination. In most countries, policy and planning involve two very important categories of stakeholders, namely, the public sector (governments) and the private sector. At the national level, governments are usually represented by a national government tourism office (such as a department of tourism or a national tourism corporation). A national travel/tourism industry association typically represents the private sector.

At the state/provincial level, the public/private sector organizations are usually known respectively as the state/provincial government tourism office and the state/provincial travel industry association. The parallel equivalent at the city/municipal or regional level are local and city government tourism departments and local and city tourism associations or, more commonly, a convention and visitor bureau (CVB) (see Chapter 4).

The Importance of Integrated/Collaborative Planning and Development

One dimension that is essential to note is the interface between the public and private sectors at all levels. This line is intended to convey the importance of integrated or collaborative planning and development efforts. Because both the public and private sectors each control (and often operate) an important percentage of tourism facilities, events, and programs, it is critical that policy, planning, and development efforts be continuously carried out within a joint, cooperative, collaborative organizational framework. Failure to acknowledge the importance of this reality leads only to antagonism, strife, and disjointed strategic planning and development. As such, each destination must strive to create DMOs where collaboration is built into the design. The actual name of the organization (be it a tourism authority, a tourism council, or a tourism partnership) matters little. What is important is the quality of the collaboration that occurs.

The Processes, Activities, and Outcomes of Tourism

The final dimension that needs to be understood is the nature of the processes and activities that both surround and occur within the tourism system and that in the end create the outcomes that are the essence of the phenomenon we call tourism.

We have previously addressed the issue of organizing the components of tourism so that they work together effectively. As indicated, a common result of these organizational efforts is the creation of a DMO.

For successful tourism, the DMO, in collaboration with all stakeholders, must define the tourism philosophy of the destination and formulate a supportive policy, vision, and strategy (see Chapter 15). These, in turn, provide direction and guidance for the detailed planning and development initiatives that will ultimately determine the nature and quality of the experiences the destination is capable of offering (see Chapter 16).

The availability of these "experience offerings" must be made known to potential visitors through effective marketing, defined in the broadest sense (see Chapter 19). Such marketing includes highly visible promotional efforts as well as the less glamorous dimensions of pricing and distribution of the travel products/experiences.

Successful marketing will attract a broad range of visitors whose behaviors provide them with enjoyment and the memorable experiences associated with these behaviors. These behaviors can give rise to both positive and negative impacts. The positive impacts pertain largely to the economic benefits (income and employment) that tourism provides. The negative impacts largely concern the ecological, social, cultural, and commemorative integrity of the destination.

The success of marketing efforts requires two subsequent activities. The first is a systematic monitoring of the levels and quality of visitation as well as visitor satisfaction regarding experiences and the destination (see Chapter 18). The second is a comprehensive program of stewardship to ensure that the success of tourism does not destroy the natural resources on which tourism depends so heavily (see Chapter 17).

The final activity that is essential to long-term success of tourism is an ongoing process of evaluation. Evaluation is simply an attempt to carefully assess the appropriateness, the effectiveness, the efficiency, and the overall performance of all components and processes in the tourism system. The results of the evaluation provide a critical source of information for the next ongoing stages of policy formulation, visioning, and strategic planning and development.

Careers in Tourism

All of the foregoing segments, sectors, and organizations require people to make the various processes work and to make the broad range of activities and experiences available to travelers. It is these "experiences" that are the tourism product, the intended outcome of the tourism phenomenon.

The people in the tourism industry who provide these experiences, as in any industry, must perform a vast number of organizational functions. These functions range from relatively simple jobs to highly sophisticated and demanding tasks (see Chapter 3). All are important in providing a truly memorable vacation experience or efficient business travel.

The tourism industry is often characterized by the large number of front-line service jobs that must be performed for tourism to function effectively. For example, the accommodation sector requires bell staff, front desk staff, and room maintenance staff. The food services sector requires cooks, waitresses, bartenders, and kitchen maintenance staff. The attractions sector requires facilitation and equipment operators, as do the entertainment event and transportation sectors. The adventure and outdoor recreation sector needs guides and group leaders. The travel trade and tourism services sectors must have the personnel to assist travelers as they plan their trips, and then to meet their many needs for information and assistance throughout their travel experiences. As can be surmised, the performance of the many tasks identified above requires many thousands of individuals who are trained to perform each specialized task in an effective and friendly manner.

But this is only the "face of tourism" that encompasses the many service jobs for which tourism is sometimes criticized, and even ridiculed. Behind this face (that incidentally provides many essential part-time and first-time jobs for students and less-skilled members of our society) are an extremely large number of highly attractive career positions that require sophisticated technical skills and/ or managerial training. These career positions are attractive in two very different ways. First, they provide challenges equal to those in virtually any other industry. Second, the nature of tourism means that many of these careers are pursued in very attractive physical settings and among people who generally like to see others enjoy life. The career path of the manager of a large vacation resort, while just as challenging as those in many other sectors, offers both an attractive income and a lifestyle that is simply not available in many other sectors or professions.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Tourism in Perspective.

Chapter 2:  Tourism Through the Ages.

Chapter 3:  Career Opportunities.

Chapter 4:  World, National, Regional and Other Organizations.

Chapter 5:  Passenger Transportation.

Chapter 6:  Hospitality and Related Services.

Chapter 7:  Organizations in the Distribution Process.

Chapter 8:  Attractions, Recreation, and Other Tourist Draws.

Chapter 9:  Motivation for Pleasure Travel.

Chapter 10:  Cultural and International Tourism for Life's Enrichment.

Chapter 11:  Sociology of Tourism.

Chapter 12:  Tourism Components and Supply.

Chapter 13:  Measuring and Forecasting Demand.

Chapter 14:  Tourism's Economic Impact.

Chapter 15:  Tourism Policy:  Structure, Content, and Process.

Chapter 16:  Tourism Planning, Development, and Social Considerations.

Chapter 17:  Tourism and the Environment.

Chapter 18:  Travel and Tourism Research.

Chapter 19:  Tourism Marketing.

Chapter 20:  Tourism's Future.