How Tourism Works-Short Version

What do we need to know?

Tourism is a service industry

The business of tourism uses attractions that are already present

Touring Alcatraz Island

Unlike most other economic activities that enjoy virtual exclusive rights over the use of their resource base, tourism resources are typically part of the public domain or are intrinsically linked to the social fabric of the host community.

Tourists expectations

Tourism activities can be invasive, especially when the perception exists that they have been imposed on the host community

The tourismification of cultural heritage assets presents a number of issues for the management of these assets, not the least of which is the challenging task of accommodating both the needs of the tourism industry and the ideals of cultural heritage management

Tourism Is Entertainment

To be successful and therefore commercially viable, the tourism product must be manipulated and packaged in such a way that it can be consumed easily by the public.

The reason is that only a small number of tourists really seek a deep learning experience when they travel.

The rest are traveling for pleasure or escapist reasons and wish to participate in activities that will provide a sense of enjoyment. Some people explain this phenomenon by arguing that tourists accept entertainment or commodified experiences as being a manifestation of the modern consumerist lifestyle; tourism becomes an end in itself and not a means to some loftier goal.

Tourism is fundamentally a demand-driven activity

Tourism is influenced more by market forces (tourists and the industry that seeks to satisfy tourists' needs), rather than by governments that try to control or manage it.

The ability to control tourism must be predicated on the assumption of being able to control tourists.

Proponents of a chaos theory illustrate that tourism markets are dynamic, erratic, nonlinear, and are noted for their great volatility.

Tourism is driven by attractions

Marketing calls attractions--demand generators.

Not all tourism attractions have equal demand-generation potential.

A clear hierarchy of tourist attractions exists that can be defined according to the degree of compulsion felt by tourists to visit.

The more dominant the attraction is, the greater the sense of obligation to visit

However, the purchase decision becomes increasingly discretionary for lower-order attractions, until visits to the lowest-order ones are typified by low involvement decisions involving little effort required on behalf of the visitor.

Not All Cultural Assets Are Cultural Tourist Attractions

Not all cultural assets have tourism potential.

Cultural heritage places are usually designated as significant by communities for reasons other than their tourism potential.

The basic rule of thumb is that attractions that are located close to large population or tourist centers will attract significantly larger numbers of visitors than more distant attractions.

The same maxim holds true on a micro or destination-specific scale. Readily accessible attractions will enjoy greater visitation levels than out-of-the-way assets, unless the compulsion to visit them is so great that remoteness becomes a nonissue.