Tour Guide, Kathmandu, Nepal
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As humans are social beings, they do not like to live in isolation. From the time immemorial, people have always been on move for various purposes. Food, water, safety and acquisition of resources were the travel motivations in nomadic age. However, the idea of travel for pleasure or exploration soon emerged. Travel has always depended upon technology to provide the means or mode of travel. The earliest travelers walked or rode domesticated animals. The invention of the wheel and the sail provided new modes of transportation. Each improvement in technology increased individuals' opportunities to travel. As roads were improved and governments stabilized, interest in travel increased for education, sightseeing, and religious purposes. These days, people visit different places for recreation holiday, health, religion, sports, business, family meetings, seminars, official meetings etc.
Tourism is a collection of activities, services and industries that delivers a travel experience, including transportation, accommodations, eating and drinking establishments, retail shops, entertainment businesses, activity facilities and other hospitality services provided for individuals or groups traveling away from home. WTO claims that tourism is currently the world’s largest industry with annual revenues of over 3 trillion dollars.
Mathieson and Wall (1982) created a good working definition of tourism as "the temporary movement of people to destinations outside their normal places of work and residence, the activities undertaken during their stay in those destinations, and the facilities created to cater to their needs."
Macintosh and Goeldner (1986) proclaim that tourism is the sum of the phenomena and relationships arising from the interaction of tourists, business suppliers, host governments and host communities in the process of attracting and hosting these tourists and other visitors. As UNWTO (2005) states, tourism comprises the activities of persons 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 a social, cultural and economic phenomenon, which entails the movement of people to countries or places outside their usual environment for personal or business/professional purposes. These people are called visitors (which may be either tourists or excursionists; residents or non-residents) and tourism has to do with their activities, some of which imply tourism expenditure. Attractions, facilities, transportation and hospitality are regarded as the dimensions of tourism. Where, attractions are the primary motivation for traveling. Attractions usually focus on natural resources, culture, ethnicity or entertainment. Natural resources are the combination of physical features, the climate, and the natural beauty of the area.
(Excerpt from university research)
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Created by- Paras Mani Amgain