ABSTRACT
Tourism can be defined in more than one way depending upon the basis of the study, such as geography, sociology, psychology or economics. For example, it can be defined as an industry or a series of industrial sectors such as hotels, restaurants and transport all loosely grouped together which provide services for tourists. It can also be defined as an experience from the tourist’s point of view, an experience of relaxation and pleasure. For the host communities it can be viewed as pleasurable and profitable, or as a troublesome nuisance. In 1937 the League of Nations defined a foreign tourist as ‘any person visiting a country other than that in which he normally resides, for a period of more than 24 hours’. Definitions are useful for governments and public sector managers and for the industry, and for statistical, legislative, administrative and industrial purposes. They are important for budgetary allocations, the evaluation of public sector management (PSM) performance, for policy formulation, and for policy resource and land-use planning. Definitions and statistics are an essential PSM tool. In 1993 the following definitions were accepted by the United Nations Statistical Commission, following the advice of the World Tourism Organisation (WTO). The terms used are ‘tourism’, ‘visitor’ and ‘tourist’. ‘Visitor’ is the term normally used in tourism statistics and that includes all types of travellers engaged in tourism.
