DEFINITION OF TOURISM. Without a precise & clear definition we. cannot study about tourists, we cannot collect statistical

Transcription

1 6 DEFINITION OF TOURISM he definition of 'tourism' 1s required for many purposes; for study, statics, legislation, industries & planning. Without a precise & clear definition we cannot study about tourists, we cannot collect statistical data & consequently we cannot chalk out plans to promote the tourism as well as to cope with the problems related to tourists. There are many laws, by-laws, acts & legislations wh~ch are related to tourists, not to other citizens. Similarly there are many laws, particularly some of the fundamental rights which are provided only to the citizens. So the correct & precise concept of tourists provide a theoretical framework. Tourism is a multi-face~ phenomena. There are geographical- social-economic & psychological aspects of tourism. Tourism in economics/commerce refers to a complex industry in which various independent units work for single consumer -the tourist, who generates demand or provides a market for many separate- varied & inter-related industries. G.Jant1 has considered two sectors of tourism; the dynamic sector & the static sector. The dynamic sector consists of all the economic activities, the community services, the motivation of demand & the provision of transport. It includes

2 7 the activities of tour operators, travel agents, transport under_akers & ancillary services. The static sector consists of demand for accommodation, food & refreshment. In other words tourism creates a demand or market for different industries. Sociological approach to the study of tourism is concerned with the impacts of tourists on the people of place of destination, how both- the residents & the tourist react and influence each other. Geographers are interested in three main geographical components of tourism; that is the place of origin, the place of destination and the space en-route. In other words they are interested in the spatial features of the phenomena, viz a tourist moves. from where to which place through an area So is the case with other disciplines of studies, all have their own orientation to purview & study the phenomena of tourism. The origin of the word 'tourist' dates back to the 2 year 1292 A.D. 'Tourism' or 'Tourist' word is related to the word 'tour' which is derived from the latin word 'tornus! It means a tool for describing a circle-or a turner's wheel~ It is from the word 'tornos' the notion of a'round tour' or a 'package tour' has come in vogue. In 1643 the term was first used in the sense of going round or travelling from places to places, around an excursion, a journey including visits to many places in circuit or sequence, circuitous jour. 4 ney, embracing the principal places of a country or reg1on

3 8 In the French literature the French term 'grand tour' i.e. 'great tour' is used in the sense of tour through France, Germany, 7 Switzarland & Italy'. According to the Oxford Dictionary, the word 'tourist' was used as early as 1800 A.D. The '19th Century Dictionary' defines 'tourist' as 'a person who travels for pleasure of travelling, out of curiocity & because he has nothing better to do 8. This definition entirely neglects the sociological, economic & educational aspects. Another definition is also similar in nature, given by 'Dictionnare Universal'. It defines a tourist as ra person who makes a journey for the sake of curiocity, for the fun of travelling, or just to tell 9 others that he has travelled.' Both of the 9bove definitions are partially correct as they have considered only entertainment, adventure & fun like aspects of tourism. So we can not accept these definitions in toto. A more balanced description may be that a tour represents an attempt by the traveller to discover something about a place he visits. A tourist wants to see himself something he has heard about, or he wants to learn about business opportunities, or health, education, environmental & recreational purposes. Tourism is not new phenomena for Indians. In Sanskrit literature we find three terms for tourism derived from the root ''atan" 10, which means leaving home for sometime to other

4 9 places. There are three terms a- Paryatana - It means going out for pleasure & knowledge. b- Deshatana - Going out to other countries primarily for economic gains. c- Tirthatana- Going to the places of religious importance. The three terms are well defining the different aspects or three main motivations of tourism. Though in ancient & med~eval periods, there were lot of travels, expeditions & explorations & human movement in due process of colonisation, but tourism as such is a new phenomena which originated after Thomas Cook's grand journeys in 1845 & developed after world wars. In contemporary situation many scholars have tried to define the trem tourism in their own way. According to Erik Cohen, ' A tourist is a voluntary./ temporary traveller. He is travelling in the expectation of pleasure from the novelty & change experienced on a relatively long & non-recurrent round trip 11. Here we find that alike other scholars he also has ignored socio-economic aspects of tourism. Hunziker & Krapf have defined tourism as 'the sum of

5 11 certainly an important aspect of tourism. So many definitions of tourists, particularly of international tourists created confusion, because each country began to use different definitions for travel statistics. Therefore, the need of uniform & universally accepted definition was realised in order to make the comparison of tourist statistics easy & simple. 'The committee of Statistical Experts of the League of Nations' took initiative in 1937 in proposing an uniform definition for its members. The League of Nations with the concurrence of member countries defined the term ',, I 1 7 foreign tourist as 'Any person visiting a country, other than that in which he usually resides for a ~eriod of at least twenty-four hours'. The following persons were to be considered as tourists within this definition : i) Persons travelling for pleasure, for domestic reasons, for health etc. ii) Persons travelling to any meeting/conference/convention or in a representative capacity of any kind (scientific, administrative, diplomatic, religious, sports etc.) of activity. iii) Persons travelling for business purposes. iv) Persons arriving in the course of a sea cruise, even when they $tay for less than twenty-four hours.(these

6 12 should be reckoned as a separate group, disregarding if necessary their usual place of residence). tourists : The following categories were not to be regarded as i) Persons arriving with or without a contract of work, to take up an occupation or engage in any business activity in the country. ii) Persons coming to establish a residence in the country. iii) Students and youngesters in boarding establishments or schools. i,) Residents in a frontier zone & persons domiciled in one country & working in an adjoining country. v) Travellers passing through a country without stopping, even if the journey takes more than twenty-four hours. After Second World War the United Nations Organisation was constituted in The U.N.O. also confirmed the above mentioned definition of League of Nations. European Travel Commission (E.T.C.), the Organisation for European Economic Co-Operation (OEEC) & the International Union of Official Travel Organisations (IUOTO) were the agencies through which the first regular reporting was developed.

7 13 The IUOTO established the 'Study Commission on International Travel Statistics, and in 1947 it began the publication of 'Digest of Tourist Statistics.' In 1950 a permanent IUOTO Research Commission was established to study & recommend improvements in statistical methods. In December 1960 the Organisation for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD) was'set up under a convention signed in Paris. In 1963 the United Nations Conference on International Travel and Tourism held in Rome considered a definition & recommended that it should be studied by the United Nations Statistical Commission. A revised definition was prepared & adopted. The. f f h" d f ma1n eatures o t e e 1n1t1on are :- 'For statistical purposes, the term 'visitor' describes any person visiting a country other than that in which he has his usual place of residence, for any reason other than following an occupation remunerated from within the country visited'. This definition covers :- i).tourists, i.e. temporary visitors staying at least twenty-four hours in the country visited & the purpose of whose can be classified under the following headings : a- Leisure (recreation, holiday, health, study, religion & sports). b- Business (family, mission, meetings).

8 14 ii) 'Excursionists' are temporary visitors staying for _less than twenty-four hours in the country visited (includes travellers on cruises). iii) The statistics should not include travellers who do not enter the country in legal sense, e.g. the air travellers, who do not leave an airport's transit area. The expert group on 'International Travel Statics' convened in 1967 in Rome by the ' U.N. Statistical Commission' recommended few amendments in the original definitions. It considered that it would be desirable to distinguish within the definition of visitors, a separate class of visitors who might be declared as 'day visitors' or 'excursionints'. These people will be visitors on day excursions, other border-crossers for purposes other than employment. The cruise passengers & visitors who do not stay overnight within the country, are also in the same category. The special characteristics of such visitors, distinguished from the main class of visitors, is that there is no overnight stay d e f 1n1t1on. In 1968 the Commission approved the Gradually this U.N. definition received wide acceptance. According to the studies of World Tourism Organisation, more than seventy percent of the countries use these definitions in the collection of international travel statistics. The definitions present a scientific & precise terms of tourist.

9 15 In India, till 1970, the tourist arrival figures were compiled on this definition, ' A person visiting India on a foreign passport for a period not less than twenty-four hours & not exceeding six months for non-migrant, non-employment tourist purposes. From 1971, the ' Department of Tourism' has adopted the following definition as per the recommendation of U.N.Conference of 'International Tourism Rome 'A foreign tourist is a person visiting India on a foreign passport staying at least twenty-four hours in India and the purpose of whose journey can be classified under one of the following headings :- 1- Leisure-(recreation, holiday, health, study, religion & sport). 2-Business-(family, mission or meeting). The following are not regarded as 'foreign tourists'. 1-Persons arriving with or without a contract, to take up an occupation or engage in activities remunerated from within the country. 2- Persons coming to establish residence in the country. 3- Excursionists, i.e. temporary visitors staying less than twenty-four hours in the country visited (including travellers on cruises).