Tourism has always been a good source of revenue generation for any country’s economy. Tourism is a sector that includes travel, stay, and attractions, etc. that contribute towards employment generation, revenue generation, infrastructure development and cultural exchange.
From ages, Tourism has been a journey to any other place than residence for pleasure, business, health, or other purposes. In the olden days though the mode of transportation was difficult people used to travel for days on foot, boats, and animals to reach their preferred destinations. Most of the times travel was for health, religion, and business purposes. Accommodation and food were also provided at limited places and at minimal prices. Provision of accommodation and food was also treated as a cheap business in the olden days. Most of the people used to pack their food for their journey and eat those. Business travel was most popular in olden days even for shorter distances. The invention of locomotives helped in the increase of travel and tourism to a greater extent.
However leisure travel was only possible for wealthy class people who traveled to various parts of the world just for pleasure & leisure. This leisure travel was to see important monuments, art, learn about new cultures, enjoy nature, and try different cuisines. Grand Tour was one of the most famous travels taken up by the Upper-class people which was the status symbol in medieval times. Travel writers were also the most popular travelers who traveled to different places to learn about the new places and write about them. Vascodigama, Columbus was one of the travel writers of ancient times.
Education travel, Medical travel, and religious travel were also very popular travel options used by people. Educational travel was taken up by upper-class youth to study abroad. The most preferred place for education travelers was England which honored many ancients with the highest degrees. But religious travel was taken by all the classes of the society for religious purposes. Jerusalem, Varanasi, and Mecca were the most famous destinations for religious travelers. Medical travel was taken by upper-class people for medical & health purposes which were provided outside their residential places. The most popular destinations of medical travelers were Greece, Germany, France, and India.
Traveling with any particular purpose to a location other than the usual environment is said as tourism. The word “Tourism” has evolved from Greek and the word “Travel” has its origin in French. The word Tourism & Tourist dates back to 18th century. Although the terms travel & tourism are used interchangeably, Tourism is more a purposeful journey than just a journey.
Tourism is often divided and differentiated into many types based on the place of travel, the purpose of travel, the period of travel, etc. Based on the place of travel, tourism is divided into Domestic tourism, International tourism, and local tourism. The purpose of travel also differentiates tourism into many types like Cultural tourism, Ecotourism, Medical tourism, Film Tourism, Culinary tourism, Sports tourism, Wildlife tourism, Religious tourism, Heritage tourism, Agriculture tourism, etc. Period of travel often names tourism as Summer tourism, Winter tourism, Autumn tourism, etc. However, there are some more types like Volunteer tourism, Pro-poor tourism, Recession tourism, Event tourism, Creative tourism, etc.
Tourism is a service industry that emerges globally which has a lot of benefits that include the exchange of culture, money, technology, etc.
