Categories of Tourism

Tourism is one of the world’s fastest growing industries. People are not only travelling with in
the country but exploring other countries of the world. Tourism can be categorized as international and
domestic tourism.
International Tourism: Movement of tourist or people from one country to another country or
to and between foreign countries is called an international tourism. In order to visit a foreign country,
one may require a legally valid passport, visa, health documents and foreign currency. It may be
inbound tourism and outbound tourism.
a) Inbound Tourism: Visit to a country by non-residents is called inbound tourism and tourist
coming into a country from another country is called inbound tourist.
b) Outbound Tourism: Residents of a country visiting another country is called outbound tourism
and a tourist departing to a destination beyond the borders of the country of residence is called outbound
tourists.
Domestic Tourism: Movement of the tourists within one’s own country is called domestic
tourism and a person who engages in tourism in his/her own country is called a domestic tourist. It does
not require formal travel documents and tedious formalities like international tourism. In domestic
tourism, a traveller generally does not face much language problem or currency exchange issues. It is
much easier and convenient than international tourism.
Forms of Tourism
The tourism industry gets its inspiration from the motivation of humankind to travel. In earlier
times human travelled to survive and later to trade with each other. The purpose of travel has changed
dramaticall in modern times. Tourism embraces a range of activities, all of which tend to have a varying
reason of occurrence and varying degree of impact. Tourism can be categorized into different forms or
types on the basis of its popularity and demand amongst the tourists. Various forms of tourism include:
1. Cultural Tourism:
Cultural tourism is the subset of tourism concerned with a country or region’s culture, especially
its arts. It generally focuses on traditional communities who have diverse customs, unique form of art
and distinct social practices, which basically distinguishes it from other types/forms of culture. Cultural
tourism includes tourism in urban areas, particularly historic or large cities and their cultural facilities
such as museums and theaters. It can also include tourism in rural areas showcasing the traditions of
indigenous cultural communities (i.e. festivals, rituals), and their values and lifestyle. It is generally
agreed that cultural tourists spend substantially more than standard tourists do. Cultural tourism
development is community based tourism. Designed to improve the economic and social wellbeing of
local residents in addition to the concerned institutional and physical environment. It is the fastest
growing segment of the tourism industry because of the globalization. The cultural tourist wants to
discover the country and its culture with comprehensive understanding.
Heritage Tourism:
The term heritage tourism refers to tourism in the natural, cultural and built environment of an
area providing the tangible links between past, present and future. Generally, it is a branch of cultural
tourism that showcases the cultural heritage of the past. It has developed as an international
phenomenon, based on the historical and cultural resources of tourism destinations. This type of tourism
includes the live and artistic forms of human expression (painting, sculptures, museums, theatre, and
folklore) referred to as arts along with historical tourism, ethnic tourism and ecotourism. It intended to
bring the tourists into closer contact with the human, natural and built environment without attracting
serious negative impacts.
Eco-Tourism:
 Ecotourism is a specific type of nature based tourism that involves education and interpretation
of the natural environment and is managed to be ecologically sustainable. Ecotourism is often
considered to be a potential strategy to support conservation of natural ecosystems while, at the same
time, promoting sustainable local development. It is a concept which proposes the use of tourism to
sustain the ecological balance. In this type of tourism it aims to have a minimal impact on the
environment. It has been defined by the WTO as “tourism that involves travelling to relatively
undisturbed natural areas with the specified objective of studying, admiring and enjoying the scenery
and its wild plants and animals, as well as any existing cultural aspects found in these areas”. Eco-
tourism promotes those activities that do not disturb or tarnish the environment. Historical, biological
and cultural conservation, preservation, sustainable development etc., are some of the fields closely
related to eco-tourism. Eco tourism encourages hospitality providers to promote recycling, energy
efficiency, water reuse and the creation of economic opportunities for local communities.
4. Ethnic Tourism:
The tourism literature reveals that the term ‘Ethnic tourism’ has been oftenly used to connote
two different meanings. The first and most common meaning of ethnic tourism implies the search for
exotic cultures and second, traveling motivated by purposes of ethnic reunion. Touristic ethnicity is
important for understanding ethnic relations, culture and identity in the world today. Ethnic tourism
consists of the return of people to the country of their origin. Much of the flow of American tourists to
England and other European countries are made up of immigrants of European origin paying a nostalgic
visit to their ancestral lands. In India, a large number of people come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri
Lanka to visit the country of their roots. Typical destination activities would include visits to native
homes, attending traditional ceremonies and dances and possibly participating in religious rituals.
5. Mice Tourism:
(Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions) represent big business at both national and
international levels. Most industries, trade unions, associations and government agencies meet on a
regular basis to exchange ideas, discuss problems, formulate new polices etc. These meetings have
become a fast growing segment of the travel industry. The MICE infrastructure in the country has been
developing rapidly to attract these tourists.
Medical Tourism:
Medical tourism is a term used to describe the rapidly growing practice of travelling across
international borders to obtain advance health care that is not available in one’s own country. Such
services typically include elective procedures as well as complex specialized surgeries such as joint
replacement, cardiac surgery, organ transplantation and cosmetic surgeries.
Agro-Tourism:
Agro-tourism is farm based tourism. It refers to the act of visiting a working farm of any
agricultural, horticultural or agro-business operation for the purpose of enjoyment, education or active
improvement in the activities of the farm or operation. It synergizes both agriculture and tourism
capitalizing on their best practices. The idea behind agro-tourism is to make possible for people to visit
the village. Though, people from cities long for being closer to nature, not many of them can do so
because of various reasons. Agro-tourism makes them avail this opportunity. Here, the farmer himself
organizes mix of education and entertainment on his farm for the tourists. It could be in the form of
educational tour to impart knowledge among tourists. It is supported by the farmer community. Farming
community markets the product for its benefits to supplement its income.
Green Tourism:
The term “green tourism” is applied to a specific environmentally oriented sector of the tourism
industry. A green approach of tourism involves a healthy tourism development through local
participation and precise assessment of carrying capacity of the area and its locality. Travel is purposed
to “getting back to nature”.
Rural Tourism:
It is a form of tourism that showcases the rural life, art, culture and heritage at rural locations,
thereby benefiting the local community economically and socially as well as enabling interaction
between the tourists and the locals for a more enriching tourism experience.
Rural tourism is often promoted as a mechanism to support rural regions. It brings income and
regenerate vibrant rural communities. It is normally promoted by the public organizations.
The government has twin objectives for developing rural tourism.
a) To offer a diversified product to the saturated tourist.
b) To ensure socio-economic development of the specific area.
Adventure Tourism:
Adventure tourism is a type of niche tourism involving exploration or travel to remote, exotic
and possibly hostile areas, where the traveller should “expect the unexpected”. Adventure tourism is
rapidly growing in popularity as tourists seek unusual holidays, different from the typical beach
vacation.
‘Adventure travel’ may be any tourist activity including two of the following 3 components:
a) Physical activity
b) Cultural exchange or interaction
c) Engagement with nature
Adventure tourism gains much of its excitement by allowing its participants to step outside their
comfort zone. The performances of acts that require significant effort and involve some degree of risk,
may include activities such as mountaineering, trekking, bungee jumping, scuba diving, mountain
biking, rafting, rock climbing, ice skating, paragliding, hot air ballooning, sky diving, micro light
aircraft, hang gliding, Para sailing etc.
Sustainable Tourism:
The unprecedented development of tourism especially during the last quarter of the twentieth
century has obviously evoked concerns about social, cultural and environmental impacts of tourism at
the global level, in general, and at the national level, in particular. Rapid and substantial changes in the
nature of tourism and broad recognition of its inter-relationship with natural environment necessitate
new paradigms to manage tourism development. Sustainable tourism is a positive approach towards it.
According to World Tourism Organization (WTO) sustainable tourism is a tourism that “meets
the needs of the present tourists and host regions while protecting and enhancing the opportunity of the
future. It 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.”
Sustainable tourism intends to reduce the tensions and friction created by the complex
interactions between the tourism industry, the visitors, the environment and the communities which are
host to holiday makers. It contributes to human well-being while maintaining harmony with
environment as it implies preservations and conservation of tourist resources, national heritage and
natural environment.
Space Tourism:
Space tourism is the recent phenomenon of tourists paying for spaceflights, primarily for
personal satisfaction. As of 2008, space tourism opportunities are limited and expensive with only the
Russian Space Agency providing transport. The price for a flight brokered by Space Adventures to the
international space station aboard by a Soyuz spacecraft is now $20 million. Flights are fully booked
until 2009. Primary attractions of space tourism are the uniqueness of the experience, the thrill and awe
of looking at earth from space. The experience’s notion as an exclusive status symbol, and various
advantages of weightlessness. The space tourism industry is being targeted by space sports in numerous
locations, including California, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Florida, Virginia, Alaska, Esrange in Sweden
and Wisconsin, as well as Singapore and the United Arab Emirates. Some use the term “personal
spaceflight” as in the case of the personal spaceflight federation.
Space tourism encourages many people to travel into Earth orbit as soon as possible for the space
experience. The costs of space travel are high and only physically fit travellers can board usable
spacecraft.
Mass Tourism:
Mass tourism developed with the invent of globalization and improvements in technology which
allowed the transport of large numbers of people in a short period of time to places of leisure interest, so
that greater numbers of people could enjoy the benefits of leisure time.
Special Interest Tourism:
Special interest tourism consists of people who possess a common special interest that influences
their travel choices. These visitors are segmented by specific interests or motivations rather than by
other characteristics such as age or social class. The type of travel experience that they seek is strongly
related to their special interest. Special interest can include various forms of tourism such as ecotourism,
cultural tourism, adventure tourism, sports tourism, geo-tourism, heritage tourism, religious tourism,
medical tourism, wildlife tourism, nature tourism etc. Example traveler choosing Nature tourism, in all
its specialized forms, is an example of special interest tourism. “Nature based tourism is primarily
concerned with the direct enjoyment of same relatively undisturbed phenomenon of nature”.
Educational Tourism:
Educational tourism is a type of tourism in which the main focus of the tour or leisure activity
includes visiting another country to learn about the culture, such as in Student Exchange
Programs and Study Tours, or to work and apply skills learned inside the classroom in a different
environment. This type of tourism has developed since time immemorial, because of the growing
popularity of teaching and learning and the enhancing of technical competency outside of the classroom
environment.
Creative Tourism:
Creative tourism is a type of tourism which is an engaged, authentic experience that promotes an
active participation of the traveller in the culture of the host community through interactive workshops
and informal learning experiences.
Dark Tourism:
It is a type of unusual tourism in which the tourists visit to various dark sites such as battle
grounds, scenes of horrific crimes or acts of genocide.
Recession Tourism:
It is a travel trend which has been identified by American entrepreneur Matt Landau (2007). It is
a recent tourism phenomenon. Recession tourism is defined by low-cost, high-value experiences taking
place of understanding of the specific cultural features of a place.