Definition of Tourism

It 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 not related to the exercise of an activity remunerated from within the place visited.

Tourism is different from travel. In order for tourism to happen, there must be a displacement: an individual has to travel, using any type of means of transportation (he might even travel on foot: nowadays, it is often the case for poorer societies, and happens even in more developed ones, and concerns pilgrims, hikers …). But all travel is not tourism.

Three criteria are used simultaneously in order to characterize a trip as belonging to tourism. The displacement must be such that:

• It involves a displacement outside the usual environment: this term is of utmost importance and will be discussed later on;
• Type of purpose: the travel must occur for any purpose different from being remunerated from within the place visited: the previous limits, where tourism was restricted to recreation and visiting family and friends are now expanded to include a vast array of purposes;
• Duration: only a maximal duration is mentioned, not a minimal. Tourism displacement can be with or without an overnight stay. We shall discuss the particularity of in transit visits, from a conceptual and statistical point of view.

Source: unwto