A person, who covers a reasonably large distance within or outside the country of his residence, is called Traveller. Normally, a tourist is a person who visits a country other than his own.
So, a traveller may not be a tourist. But a tourist is essentially a traveller. Further, a traveller may touch many transit stops while he leaves his starting point and arrives at his destination after a long journey.
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But he is only a traveller for those stops where he disembarks for brief periods. He is not a tourist, at those stops, in the strict sense of the word.
Visitor vs. Excursionist:
The group also tried to distinguish a separate class of visitors within the definition of the term ‘visitor.’ Such a class was supposed to be of “day visitors” or ‘excursionists.
‘It included those visitors (on day excursions) and border-crossers for purposes other than employment, cruise passengers and those visitors in transit, who did not stay overnight in any accommodation provided within the country. So, such visitors do not stay overnight and this fact distinguishes them from the main definition of the term ‘visitor.’
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Tourism recreation and leisure interrelationships:
According to Concise Oxford Dictionary (2000), recreation refers to “an enjoyable leisure activity.” Its origin is in the word recreate, which means “create again.” All the human beings indulge in recreation. It is required to renew their vigor and give comfort to their tired minds. Note that recreation is an activity.
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According to Concise Oxford Dictionary (2000), leisure refers to “the time spent in or free for relaxation or enjoyment.” It has been derived from a phrase lacer, which means “be allowed.” It also has a connotation that is similar to the word ‘recreation.’ However, it is the time spent or available for enjoyment.
Tourism is an activity through which, a tourist gets enjoyment during the free time at his disposal. He can undertake a tour in his own country (which means that he is a domestic tourist).
He can also undertake a tour in another country or a group of countries (which means that he is an international tourist). He travels to a distance that is away from his place of residence; that is why; he is called ‘Tourist.’ He must have a passion for enjoying an activity that could give him pleasure.
He must also have free time to do so. He must also have adequate resources to become a tourist. Every human being is an individual. He has a background that is the sum total of the social, family, political, economic and academic factors that is active around him. He has some basic needs physiological, security and affiliation.
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He has some higher order needs esteem and self- actualization. His profession, work environment, family background and curiosity motivate him to explore the world. But such motivating factors are different for different people.
He also has some perceptions, which become a part of his habits and lifestyle over a period of years. A young person has immature (or crude) perceptions while an old man has mature (or refined) perceptions. Curiosity is the birth right of every human being. In fact, it is present in his perception set.
Finally, some persons have curious minds to the extent that they start undertaking various research projects to know the unknown in this world.
For example, Magellan and Hiuen T’ sang had the urge to carry out research in other worlds, which were far away from their respective countries; the former wanted to conduct business or geographical research activities while the latter was a religious research scholar.
Note that research and curiosity are related to each other. In modern day tourism, people go to other countries to look for data related to particular topics.
Visiting Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore to learn the procedures of airline operations may be practised by any one. Basic sciences, Management. Medicine, Engineering, Psychology, mental diseases, tourist spots, Information Technology (IT), History, Political Science and Geography are the key research areas nowadays.
Many scholars and researchers undertake tours to complete their research projects or collect data related to the topics of their interest.
For example, if an anthropologist wishes to study the Aborigines of Australia, he ought to visit Australia to meet those people and collect data related to the research project taken up by him. He would become a tourist and his aim would not be leisure but research.
All these factors groom an individual. So, he makes up his mind to explore the unknown parts of the world. Any one of the factors described earlier could be proponent. This proponent factor as well as its degree of prepotency could vary from individual to individual.