In its simplest definition, tourism means the practice of traveling for recreation.

Unfortunately it has now become the act in which a rich, overweight, usually English speaking monolingual with a cell phone in one hand and a hamburger in the other, who has no regard for the customs of other cultures visits another country and desecrates their traditions and holy places just so they can have pictures of their fat self standing next to some famous world monument. When they visit other countries they don't actually experience them: they stay at a 5 star hotel, shop at a Walmart, and eat at a McDonalds. These obese people usually carry around a "phrase book and dictionary" of whatever language is spoken in the country they are visiting and mispronounce two-thirds of all the words and have absolutely no manners. They will sometimes even claim to know a country's language and history better then an actual native. This is part of the Jews plan at destroying the nationalism of every country and imposing globalization. There is an old-fashioned version of tourism and then there is a new age version of tourism. The new age one is for spoiled faggots.

tourism (usually uncountable; plural tourisms)

1. 2.

the act of travelling or sightseeing, particularly away from one's home collectively, the tourists visiting a place or landmark

Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organizationdefines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes". Tourism is important and in some cases vital for many countries, such as France, Italy, Egypt,Greece, Lebanon, Israel, the United States, the United Kingdom, Spain and Thailand, and manyisland nations, such as Mauritius, The Bahamas, Fiji, Maldives, Philippines and the Seychelles. It brings in large amounts of income in payment for goods and services available, contributing an estimated 5% to the worldwide gross domestic product (GDP), and it creates opportunities for employment in the service industries associated with tourism.[2] These service industries includetransportation services, such as airlines, cruise ships and taxicabs; hospitality services, such asaccommodations, including hotels and resorts; and entertainment venues, such as amusement parks, casinos, shopping malls, music venues and theatres. In 1994, the United Nations classified three forms of tourism in its Recommendations on Tourism Statistics:[10] Domestic tourism, involving residents of the given country traveling only within this country. Inbound tourism, involving non-residents traveling in the given country. Outbound tourism, involving residents traveling in another country.

History
Wealthy people have always traveled to distant parts of the world, to see great buildings, works of art, learn new languages, experience new cultures and to taste different cuisines. Long ago, at the time of the Roman Republic, places such as Baiae were popular coastal resorts for the rich. The word tourist was used by 1772[20] and tourism by 1811.[21] In 1936, the League of Nations defined foreign tourist as "someone traveling abroad for at least twenty-four hours". Its successor, the United Nations, amended this definition in 1945, by including a maximum stay of six months.

Leisure travel
Leisure travel was associated with the Industrial Revolution in the United Kingdom the first European country to promote leisure time to the increasing industrial population.[22] Initially, this applied to the owners of the machinery of production, the economic oligarchy, the factory owners and the traders. These comprised the new middle class.[22] Cox & Kings was the first official travel company to be formed in 1758.[23] The British origin of this new industry is reflected in many place names. In Nice, France, one of the first and best-established holiday resorts on the French Riviera, the long esplanade along the seafront is known to this day as the Promenade des Anglais; in many other historic resorts incontinental Europe, old, well-established palace hotels have names like the Hotel Bristol, the Hotel Carlton or the Hotel Majestic reflecting the dominance of English customers. Many leisure-oriented tourists travel to the tropics, both in the summer and winter. Places of such nature often visited are: Bali in Indonesia, Colombia, Brazil, Cuba, the Dominican Republic,Malaysia, Mexico the various Polynesian tropical islands, Queensland in Australia, Thailand,Saint-Tropez and Cannes in France, Florida, Hawaii a nd Puerto Rico in the United States,Barbados, Sint Maarten, Saint Kitts and Nevis, The Bahamas, Anguilla, Antigua, Aruba, Turks and Caicos Islands and Bermuda.

Winter tourism
Although it is acknowledged that the Swiss were not the inventors of skiing, it is well documented that St. Moritz, Graubnden became the cradle of the developing winter tourism; since that year of 1865 in St. Moritz,[24] when many daring hotel managers choose to risk opening their hotels in winter. It was, however, only in the 1970s when winter tourism took over the lead from summer tourism in many of the Swiss ski resorts. Even in winter, portions of up to one third of all guests (depending on the location) consist of non-skiers.[25] Major ski resorts are located mostly in the various European countries (e.g. Andorra, Austria, Bulgaria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Czech Republic,France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Norway, Poland, Serbia, Sweden, Slovenia, Spain, Swi tzerland), Canada, the United States (e.g. Colorado, California, Utah, Montana, Wyoming, New York, New Jersey, Michigan, Vermont, New Hampshire) New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Chile, and Argentina.

Mass tourism
Mass tourism could only have developed with the improvements in technology, allowing thetransport of large numbers of people in a short space of time to places of leisure interest, so that greater numbers of people could begin to enjoy the benefits of leisure time. In the United States, the first seaside resorts in the European style were at Atlantic City, New Jersey and Long Island, New York. In Continental Europe, early resorts included: Ostend, popularised by the people of Brussels;Boulogne-sur-Mer (Pas-de-Calais) and Deauville (Calvados) for the Parisians; and Heiligendamm, founded in 1793, as the first seaside resort on the Baltic Sea.

Adjectival tourism
Adjectival tourism refers to the numerous niche or specialty travel forms of tourism that have emerged over the years, each with its own adjective. Many of these have come into common use by the tourism industry and academics.[26] Others are emerging concepts that may or may not gain popular usage. Examples of the more common niche tourism markets include: Agritourism Birth tourism Culinary tourism Cultural tourism Extreme tourism Geotourism Heritage tourism LGBT tourism Medical tourism Nautical tourism Pop-culture tourism Religious tourism Slum tourism Space tourism War tourism Wildlife tourism

Recent developments
There has been an up trend in tourism over the last few decades, especially in Europe, where international travel for short breaks is common. Tourists have a wide range of budgets and tastes, and a wide variety of resorts and hotels have developed to cater for them. For example, some people prefer simple beach vacations, while others want more specialised holidays, quieter resorts, family-oriented holidays or niche market-targeted destination hotels. The developments in technology and transport infrastructure, such as jumbo jets, low-cost airlines and more accessible airports have made many types of tourism more affordable. On April 28, 2009 The Guardian noted that "the WHO estimates that up to 500,000 people are on planes at any time."[27] There have also been changes in lifestyle, for example some retirement-age people sustain year round tourism. This is facilitated by internet sales of tourist services. Some sites have now started to offer dynamic packaging, in which an inclusive price is quoted for a tailor-made package requested by the customer upon impulse.

There have been a few setbacks in tourism, such as the September 11 attacks and terrorist threats to tourist destinations, such as in Baliand several European cities. Also, on December 26, 2004, a tsunami, caused by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, hit the Asian countrieson the Indian Ocean, including the Maldives. Thousands of lives were lost including many tourists. This, together with the vast clean-upoperations, stopped or severely hampered tourism in the area for a time. The terms tourism and travel are sometimes used interchangeably. In this context, travel has a similar definition to tourism, but implies a more purposeful journey. The terms tourism and tourist are sometimes used pejoratively, to imply a shallow interest in the cultures or locations visited by tourists.

Latest trends
As a result of the late-2000s recession, international arrivals suffered a strong slowdown beginning in June 2008. Growth from 2007 to 2008 was only 3.7% during the first eight months of 2008. The Asian and Pacific markets were affected and Europe stagnated during the boreal summer months, while the Americas performed better, reducing their expansion rate but keeping a 6% growth from January to August 2008. Only the Middle East continued its rapid growth during the same period, reaching a 17% growth as compared to the same period in 2007.[36]This slowdown on international tourism demand was also reflected in the air transport industry, with a negative growth in September 2008 and a 3.3% growth in passenger traffic through September. The hotel industry also reports a slowdown, as room occupancy continues to decline.[36] As the global economic situation deteriorated dramatically during September and October as a result of the global financial crisis, growth of international tourism is expected to slow even further for the remaining of 2008, and this slowdown in demand growth is forecasted to continue into 2009 as recession has already hit most of the top spender countries, with long-haul travel expected to be the most affected by the economic crisis.[36] This negative trend intensified as international tourist arrivals fell by 8% during the first four months of 2009, and the decline was exacerbated in some regions due to the outbreak of the influenza AH1N1 virus.