The tourism industry, also known as the travel industry, is linked to the idea of people travelling to other locations, either domestically or internationally, for leisure, social or business purposes. It is closely connected to the hotel industry, the hospitality industry and the transport industry, and much of it is based around keeping tourists happy, occupied and equipped with the things they need during their time away from home.
What is the Tourism Industry?
So, what is the tourism industry? First, it is important to define what is meant by the ‘tourism industry’. Essentially, it refers to all activity related to the short-term movement of people to locations away from where they usually reside. It is one of the world’s largest industries and the economies of many nations are driven, to a large extent, by their tourist trade.
It is also a wide-ranging industry, which includes the hotel industry, the transport industry and a number of additional industries or sectors. It is vital to understand that the tourist industry is linked to movement to different locations, based not only on leisure, but also business and some additional travel motivators.
With that being said, according to the most common definitions, the tourism industry does not cover activities related to travel where the person intends to stay in their destination for longer than one year. As an example, this means that expatriates and long-term international students are not technically classed as tourists.