Chapter 1

The meaning, scope and measurement of travel and tourism

Giovanna Nigro nigrogiovanna@libero.it

Travel was born with the history of man

Purposes
Survival Trade Religion Economic gain War Migration

In the Roman period

Travel pleasure

Seaside resorts developed

Mass tourism began in England during the Industrial revolution due to

The rise of the middle class
Cheap and relatively quick means of transport The 50s were marked by a rapid growth of the airline system leading to

The development of a major new industry

Provide new new employment opportunities

Earn foreign exchange

The total tourism industry has grown as a service industry

According to the World Travel and Tourism Council travel and tourism is the largest industry in the world in economic, employment and tax contributions

A major problem of the travel and tourism industry is the diversity and fragmentation of the industry itself.
Hotels, motels, other types of accommodation, restaurants, other food services, transportation services, gift shops, leisure facilities
It is difficult to determine whether they contribute to regional, national or global economies

Actually, there is no universal definition of the words tourist and tourism

Travel research requires a standard definition to establish parameters for research content

Standard definitions are useful to measure tourism as an economic activity and to measure its impact on the local, state, national or world economy

The United Nation convened a conference on Trade and Development which issues guidelines for tourism statistics Accurate statistical measurement of travel and tourism are useful - To assess its economic impacts - To plan new tourist facilities - To provide helpful marketing information

Two different types of tourism definitions

a) Conceptual: provides a theoretical framework to identify the essential characteristics of toursim An example is provide by Mathieson & Wall (1982) Tourism is the temporary movement of people to destinations outside their normal places of work and residence, the activities undertaking during their stay in those destinations, and the facilities created to cater to their needs

b) Technical: provides data for statistical or legislative purposes, provides a common basis by which to collect data. Technical definitions are characterized by 5 main elements
Purpose of trip Distance travelled Duration of the trip Residence of traveller Mode of transportation

Purpose - pleasure
Business business tourism Religion religion tourism Culture cultural tourism Ecology eco-tourism

Distance
In official estimates of tourism, distanaces vary from 0 to 100 miles

Duration
Most definitions of tourists include at least one overnight

Residence of traveller
Type of location

Mode of transportation
Means of transport used to reach a destination

Need of a standard definition to be adopted universally in order to measure the wide phenomenon of tourism
1936. The Committee of Statistical Experts of the League of Nations a foreign tourist is one who visits a country other than that in which he habitually lives for a period of at least twenty-four hours

1936. The WTO introduced the word visitor including two different categories of travellers a) tourists: temporary visitors staying at least
twenty-four hours in the country visited, and whose purpose was for leisure, business, family, mission or meeting b) excursionists: temporary visitors staying less than twenty-four hours in the destination visited and not staying overnight

Even if the WTO and the UN tried to create a uniform definition and a uniform basis to collect standardized tourism data, not all countries adhere to standard definitions

CAUSING
The incomparability of tourism statistics

Chapter 3
There s no business like old business: tourism, the nostalgia industry of the future

Today, tourism looks backwards, tries to capture the past which is far better and superior to the chaotic present and uncertain future.
The past, with its history and genuine traditions, is seen as an improvement on the present

Present is described as chaotic, stressing and is opposed to a fairytale, relaxing past where the tourist feels free to forget his daily routine

Nostalgia relates to and is rounded in dissatisfaction with current social arrangements

In Britain there is a massive revival in preserving the past . Coal mining, cotton spinning and steam engines have changed their meaning becoming the heritage industry

The theme of nostalgia and the return to the past are developed through

a role inversion between the tourist, the common man, and the famous person, so that the tourist feels a king or a queen for a day

However, contemporary society tends to obliterate divisions based on class, gender and race.
For this REASON, it is necessary to look back at a period where the distinctions between lord and serf were most pronounced
IT IS THE REALM OF THE PAST

In HOTELS the atmosphere of the past is well visible in the

Old fashioned furniture Marble floors and bathrooms Waiters dressed with traditional clothes A lot of pages of history Silver services Paintings and black and white pictures of wealthy families of days gone by

MUSEUMS COLLECTIONS OF PAST TIMES

Everywhere and everything from the past may be conserved, making it a spectacle, a show. Museums become an emporium retailing nostalgia, allowing the tourist to buy souvenirs or memories from the past. There are specialized museums focusing on one single character: a musician, a writer, a poet.

To sum up, in Urrys words, the past has come to be much more highly valued in comparison with both the present and the future

MACABRE SITES
Even if it sounds surprising, macabre sites attract a lot of tourists WHY DOES THE MACABRE ATTRACT? The idea and feeling of nostalgia, around which the tourism industry builds marketing strategies, filters out unpleasant experiences by first of all concentrating upon them and then recognizing them as safe, dead and past. ACTUALLY, THE TOURIST INDUSTRY SELLS NOSTALGIA

The past, the INDUSTRIAL past is revalued for tourist and economic purposes
Industrial sites and machinery are deindustrialized, they lose their gloomy aspects to become sceneries or objects in a museum.

LANGUAGE
Nostalgia is not simply an antiquarian feeling but also a matter of language The nostalgia discourse builds a kind of bridge between a glorious past and a stunning future skipping the boring present

 The tourism industry aims at selling the past to the future

In this way, tourists are encouraged to fill the void of the present by identifying themselves with the product, with the holiday