Chapter 1. History and Overview
Learning Objectives
- Specify the commonly understood definitions of tourism and tourist
- Classify tourism into distinct industry groups using North American Industry Classification Standards (NAICS)
- Define hospitality
- Gain knowledge about the origins of the tourism industry
- Provide an overview of the economic, social, and environmental impacts of tourism worldwide
- Understand the history of tourism development in Canada and British Columbia
- Analyze the value of tourism in Canada and British Columbia
- Identify key industry associations and understand their mandates
What Is Tourism?
Before engaging in a study of tourism, let’s have a closer look at what this term means.
Definition of Tourism
There are a number of ways tourism can be defined, and for this reason, the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) embarked on a project from 2005 to 2007 to create a common glossary of terms for tourism. It defines tourism as follows:
Tourism is a social, cultural and economic phenomenon which entails the movement of people to countries or places outside their usual environment for personal or business/professional purposes. These people are called visitors (which may be either tourists or excursionists; residents or non-residents) and tourism has to do with their activities, some of which imply tourism expenditure (United Nations World Tourism Organization, 2008).
Using this definition, we can see that tourism is the movement of people for a number of purposes (whether business or pleasure).
Definition of Tourist
Building on the definition of tourism, a commonly accepted description of a tourist is “someone who travels at least 80 km from his or her home for at least 24 hours, for business or leisure or other reasons” (LinkBC, 2008, p.8). The United Nations World Tourism Organization (1995) helps us break down this definition further by stating tourists can be:
- Domestic (residents of a given country travelling only within that country)
- Inbound (non-residents travelling in a given country)
- Outbound (residents of one country travelling in another country)
The scope of tourism, therefore, is broad and encompasses a number of activities.
Spotlight On: United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO)
UNWTO is the United Nations agency responsible “for the promotion of responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism” (UNWTO, 2014b). Its membership includes 156 countries and over 400 affiliates such as private companies and non-governmental organizations. It promotes tourism as a way of developing communities while encouraging ethical behaviour to mitigate negative impacts. For more information, visit the UNWTO website: http://www2.unwto.org/.
NAICS: The North American Industry Classification System
Given the sheer size of the tourism industry, it can be helpful to break it down into broad industry groups using a common classification system. The North American Industry Classification System (