Tourism

Common sights of backpacking tourism: Guidebooks, train ticket, money and passport. Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or busines&'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". Tourism has become a popular global leisure activity. In 2010, there were over 940 million international tourist arrivalsworldwide,representing a growth of 6.6% when compared to 2009. International tourism receipts grew to US$919 billion (€693 billion) in 2010, corresponding to an increase in real terms of 4.7%. As a result of the late-2000s recession, international travel

demand suffered a strong slowdown from the second half of 2008 through the end of 2009.

After a 5% increase in the first half of 2008, growth in international tourist arrivals moved into

negative territory in the second half of 2008, and ended up only 2% for the year, compared to a 7% increase in 2007. This negative trend intensified during 2009, exacerbated in some countries due to the outbreak of the H1N1 influenza virus, resulting in a worldwide decline of 4.2% in 2009 to 880 million international tourists arrivals, and a 5.7% decline in international

tourism receipts.

Tourism is important and in some cases vital for many countries, such as France, Egypt,

Greece, Lebanon, Israel, the United States, the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, and Thailand, and

many island nations, such as. Mauritius, The Bahamas, Fiji, Maldives, Philippines and the

Seychelles. It brings in large amounts, of income in payment for goods and services available, contributing an estimated 5% to the worldwide gross domestic product (GDP), and it creates opportunities for employment in the service industries associated with tourism.These service

Industries include transportation services, such as airlines, cruise ships and taxicabs; hospitality

services, such as accommodations , including hotels and resorts; and entertainment venues, such

as amusement parks, casinos, shopping malls,music venues and theatres.

Etymology

Theobald (1994) suggested that "etymologically, the word tour is derived from the Latin, 'tornare' and the Greek, 'torrios', meaning a lathe or circle; the movement around a central point or axis'. This meaning changed in modern English to represent 'one's turn'. The suffix -ism is defined as 'an action or process; typical behaviour or quality', while the suffix, -ist denotes 'one

that performs a given action'. When the word tour .and the suffixes -ism and -ist are combined

they suggest the action of movement around a circle. One can argue that a circle represents a

starting point, which ultimately returns back to its beginning. Therefore, like a circle, a tour

represents a journey in that it is a round-trip, i.e., the act of leaving and then returning to the

original starting point, and therefore, one who takes such a journey can be called a tourist.