Q1. Tourism is one of the biggest industries. Discuss the meaning of tourism and event tourism. How are events categorized?
Answer:- Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure, or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines 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”
This ‘event tourism’ as both professional practice and a field of academic study, The origins and evolution of research on event tourism are pinpointed through both chronological and thematic literature reviews. A conceptual model of the core phenomenon and key themes in event tourism studies is provided as a framework for spurring theoretical advancement, identifying research gaps, and assisting professional practice. Conclusions are in two parts: a discussion of implications for the practice of event management and tourism, and implications are drawn for advancing theory in event tourism.
Tourists are classified, according to their needs and their reasons for travelling, into four broad categories:
- business and professional tourist
- leisure and holiday tourists
- tourists travelling to visit friends and relatives (VFR)
- Youth tourists, including backpackers and gap year travellers.
- The tourism industry tries to meet the needs of all types of tourists by providing suitable facilities and services for each category.
1) Business tourist: travel is related to business and the world of work. MESE which stands for meetings, exhibitions and special events. These are all part of the business world. All major cities have conference centres that cater for the needs of business tourists. An example of a business tourist would be a salesman who travels to another city to attend a trade show and promote the products he sells.
- Education tourists: travel to attend a place of learning in another town, city, or country, in order to study for or improve a qualification. They may also be people that attend workshops to learn new skills or improve existing ones. A clinic nurse who travels to another province to attend a workshop about infectious diseases is an example of an educational tourist.
- Incentive tourists: are people who are rewarded in the form of a company paid holiday for their hard work, or for achieving goals set by their company. This incentive to travel motivates employees to work harder, improves work relationships, and builds team spirit. A salesman who receives a holiday package for achieving the most sales in the company is an example of an incentive tourist.
- Health or medical tourist: travel because they want to visit a holiday spa, needs medical special treatment that is only available away from home, undergo procedures that are cheaper in another country, or are recovering from an illness in a healthier climate. Many tourist come from oversees countries to South Africa to have plastic surgery.
2) Adventure tourist: want an unusual and exciting experience. They want to participate in activities that may be dangerous, such as rock climbing, river rafting, skydiving, shark cave diving and bungee jumping. Cultural tourist: want to experience different cultures, such as San rock art, or cultural related festivals such as the National Art Festival in Grahams-town, or the International Jazz Festival in Cape Town. They would also want to experience the World Heritage Sites in the country. Eco-tourists: travel to experience nature such as traveling to Bonita Gardens in Bloemfontein South Africa Leisure tourist: want to rest and relax and have a break from the usual routine Examples of this type of tourism are a cruise on a cruise liner, a trip on a Blue train, attending a special music special music performance or relaxing on the beach.
3) Religious tourist: want to see and experience places of religious importance. There are many religious destinations in the world such as the Hajj in Mecca, Jerusalem in Israel, Varanasi in India, and the Vatican in Rome. During Easter the largest Christian pilgrimage to Zion City, Moria, Limpopo, takes place. More than a million pilgrims travel to Moria to every Easter. Shopping tourist: travel to shopping malls, shopping centres, factory shops, crafts market, festivals, and touring shopping routes such as the Midlands in KwaZulu-Natal. Their main purpose is to buy items. Special interest tourist (STI): have particular interest such as bird watching, food and wine, flowers, fishing during the Sardine Run, or attending the Cape Town Book Fair. Sport and recreation tourist: participate in or watch sporting events. Popular events include the Soccer World Cup, Winblendon Tennis Championship, Comrades Marathon, and Fisher River Canoe Marathon. Surfing, mountain climbing, cricket, swimming, golf and tennis are popular sports.
4) Tourist visiting friends and relatives (VFR) want to stay in contact with friends and relatives and travel away from home to visit them. These tourist may travel to attend a wedding, funeral, or birthday celebration of friends or relatives.
5) Backpacking or youth tourist: generally have little luggage, are on a budget, want to experience adventure and excitement, tend to travel independently, enjoy meeting other traveller, and have flexible travel schedules. A group of young tourists on a weekend walking tour in the mountains, or a student touring around the country by bus are examples of this group of tourist. Gap year travellers: do not study further or enter job opportunity after school, instead they take break called a gap year. They travel, work and earn money, learn new skills or do volunteer work in another country. During this time they gain skills and life experience before starting tertiary education. These young people are also known as “gappers”.
6) To make sure that the needs of all types of tourist are met it is important for travel agents to draw up tourist profile. This is a summary of facts about what tourists want and expect form the travel experience.
Q2. In India, cultural tourism has witnessed tremendous growth. Explain the meaning of cultural tourism. What are the factors affecting cultural tourism?
Answer:- Cultural tourism (or culture tourism) is the subset of tourism concerned with a country or region’s culture, specifically the lifestyle of the people in those geographical areas, the history of those people, their art, architecture, religion(s), and other elements that helped shape their way of life. Cultural tourism includes tourism in urban areas, particularly historic or large cities and their cultural facilities such as museums and theatres.
