Tourism Theories And Practices Tourism Essay

Tourism Theories And Practices Tourism EssayTourism Theories and PracticesWhat do excursionists do and why? Critically discussTourism constancy has emerged as one(a) of the fastest growing industry and largest employers in the modern sphere. This sheer vastness of the industry is at a lower placestood from the fact that the numbers of touring cars worldwide be anticipated to be doubled to one jillion plus by the end of 2010.(Kamra, p 184)This strain will discuss in brief the antithetic theories of tourism which define tourer behavior, their roles, activities and motivations which in deal influence the industry.Thesis statement Tourists and their thought process, their behavior and motivations argon centrifugal to the concept of tourism. Many scholars abide tried to define the typology of the touring cars, their potpourris in order to understand the concept of tourism.The essay will outline more or less of the old theories and the modern day approach and why there is a need for more query based studies to exploit the potential of this industry.Meaning of tourism-What is tourismMichel Eyquem De Montaigne said, A man should ever be train booted to take his journey.Man because of his gregarious nature is bound to travel from one place to other to fulfill his various of necessity be it social, emotional or physical. Traveling is thus characteristic to gentle society on the whole.Travel and tourism was traditionally con military positionred as a opulence item. But with the vacate of the degree Celsius, definition of travel and tourism has evolved. Tourism no semipermanent stands for simple change of location or momentary journeys and stays primarily for pleasure, leisure and or recreational purposes or a luxury segment. Twentieth century ushered in the paradigm shift in the concept of tourism. In fact it will not be unjustified to say that there has been transition from the 19th and early 20th century concept of tourism as an praxis in le isure and pleasure do main(prenominal) to the concept of tourism as an exercise in business, economics. It is more of a consumer product tourism industry is a vibrant market where tourism products target be sold now as any other consumer product, consumer here is the tourist. (Kamra, p 157) harmonise to statistics brought out by the statistics of the World Tourism Organisation (WTO) in 1994, tourism contributed 12 per cent of the worlds sodding(a) National Product. (Kamra, 12)Tourism industry is one of the fastest growing industry employing hundreds of millions of people worldwide, which explains the reason why the study of the tourism and tourism research has become so Coperni bathroom in not however the academic field but everywherely for the economy on the whole.Modern day tourism is often more than simple traveling it is pure economics, which is determined by theories of demand, and supply, which brings in the question of sustainability. Tourism is no more synonymous to t raveling.Today tourism is just wish well a normal consumer product, which is driven by market dynamics, demand supply, sold by retail outlets. It no ampleer remains a luxury of the upper class but has become a bulk product for the growing consumer market, in this eccentric person the growing tourist community. (Swarbrooke and Horner p 4)In fact there has been a combination of factors which hold in resulted in the proliferation of tourism industry. The prime being increased leisure, higher incomes of burgeoning middle class. One of the main drivers to growth in the coming era would be the growing middle class.The study of tourism theories and practices therefore would mainly flap around the needs, motivations, role, experiences of the the tourists. What do tourists do and why?The close general categorization of tourists is on the solid ground of the needs of the tourist. This would mainly classify the entire tourist community into 2 groups-the traveler and the tourist.Whi le the former is mainly conceived as one who would basically travel to understand the place and thus would rather privilege longer trips and would plan it individually. The latter classified, as a tourist in laymans version would be characterized as one with superficial interest. One who would indulge in shorter trips and group tours or charters and would mainly depend on tour agents. But this classification is very vague. MotivationsMost of the tourists travel for change of environment because of which new concepts of tourism manage eco-tourism, rural tourism have come into existence. Cultural attractions, education, gaining cognition about new cultures magnate be other important motivations. For exemplar attraction towards Buddhist culture has made Myanmar and some parts of trade union East India a major hub for Buddhist tourists from all around the world. People from all around the world travel to these places to get experience the Buddhist spirit. in that location grass b e other motivations dealwise ilk quest for new experience, personal visits etc.Some of the to the highest degree prevalent theories of destination culture and classification of touristsSome scholars have tried to classify the tourist on the basis of their needs, which explains the reason for their travel. For example a tourist can be classified as explorer, elite, offbeat, unusual, mass or charter on the basis of his/her demand.While an explorer tourist group will want discovery, adventure, exploration, a elite tourist might have a special personally customized tailored trip to any exotic places. Or for example an offbeat tourist might travel to get away from the crowds.The classification according to demand describes the main purpose of travel. There can be a pure mass group also under the demand-based classification where the tourist might prefer normal tour packages and holiday trips to conventional places.Thus classification on the basis of demand to a large extent determin es the needs and the activities of the tourists.There can also be classification on the basis of the meaning and requirement, where tourists might travel for the sake of simple recreation, diversion, experiential, observational reasons. There can be also motivational based classification. Understanding the motive behind traveling might divine service to predict consumer psyche.An American researcher named Plog (Mason 26) put forth his speculation based on the psychology of tourists and these were published in 1973. Plogs theory was based on a case study conducted on New York residents and their attitudes to travel.Plogs discussed the tourist behavior and motivations based on the psychology of the tourists. Thus there are two types of tourists, the allo-centric and psycho-centric types of tourist. He argued that there are picky psychological types who do not like unfamiliar environments or cultures, so when they select a holiday they will seek the familiar regions than unfamiliar upstage regions (these he termed psycho-centric).Plog further added that there are still some groups in society who will be disposed(p) to risk a far more uncertain holiday destination. These tourists will search for strange or unfamiliar and these he termed allo-centric.While the psycho-centric would not travel far from the local environment the allo-centric would travel long distances to unfamiliar locations. He concluded that the bulk of the tourists were neither fully psycho- centric nor fully allo-centric.Rather intimately of the tourists were located in the center point between the two extremes of psycho-centric and allo-centric.And that majority of the tourists would seek the familiar and prefer not to travel great distances to get there.An important point that emerged from the destination breeding of Plogs theory is that different tourists destinations are attractive to different types of tourists based on the kind of traveler they are, psycho or allo-centric and that ma jority of the tourists will prefer to travel for short distances than longer ones to go for holidays.Thus it suggests that the tourist destinations in most of the developed countries which are in close proximity to major population areas, busy areas, markets, residential areas are likely to be developed and grow more quickly than those in the distant remote areas.However, in actual practice, sometimes this theory may also prove wrong. On the contrary many of the remote areas are now getting faster developed than those near the major population areas.While Plogs theory was based more on the psychological part of tourists, Erik Cohens theory re novel to the behavior of the tourists. Erik Cohen who developed a classification of tourists where there was a four chief classification.First was the organized mass tourists who travel in groups, who prefer packaged holiday (travel, accommodation, food etc.) usually arranged by a travel agent.The reciprocal ohm type was the individual mass to urists who use the same facilities as the organized mass tourists, but the release lies only in decision making. This group makes more individual based decisions about their activity and trip. There are also the explorers and the drifters.While explorers would most often arrange their own trips, meet and interact with the locals drifters overturn all contact with other tourists and leave with the locals. This classification of tourists lives longer than the other groups.If both the above mentioned tourist theories which basically delve into the characteristics of human behavioral aspects are combined then we would see that majority of Cohens mass tourist and independent mass tourists would converge with Plogs psycho-centric tourists.Later in the mid 1970s, Doxey proposed the Irritation Index or the Irridex. The Irridex was based on the relationship between the tourists and the locals.The fundamental idea as it is evident from the name of the magnate itself is that over a time per iod as the number of tourist increase in a particular area, a greater irritation and hatred would build up amongst the locals towards the tourists.So, over the time as the locals gets more irritant with the visitors and become hostile, the number of visitors might actually decline or might not continue to grow at the same rate as previously.But the problem with most of these theories was that most of them were not based on proper field research but on discussions.Butlers Tourist compass Life Cycle (TALC) (Mason, 33) instance on tourism which is still the most widely accepted and important theory deals with a particular destination, his theory explains how a destination emerge as a tourist destination after several stages.Butler suggested a model where a tourism destination develops over time as a result of several factors. Destination is a very important element in tourism. A destination is defined most widely as a product is marketed to its consumers. And like all other products, tourist destinations also have a life cycle. Butler proposed a model for tourism area life cycle in which he showed how a destination begins as a relatively unknown place and visitors first come in small fractions because of miss of access, facilities and local knowledge (Miller and Galluci, 2004)The key point in Butlers model was that planning and proper remedial action by the tourists can alleviate arrest the decline in resorts and tourism infrastructure.One of the major challenges that the World Tourism agreement made in its Global Forecasts for the year 2000 and beyond is the let out of sustainability, which relates to the absorptive capacity of an economy with find to tourism.This does not refer to the physical capacity alone but also to the capacity of a particular area to provide tourism infrastructure, pool in investments, manpower, and natural resources.While manpower would not be a constraint, other natural resources might be. The theory of sustainable tourism thus o ff late has emerged of greater relevance, which is necessary to promote environmental awareness and bring forward tourism industry on the whole.sustainable tourism in a nutshell can be explained as a means by which tourist growth is achieved as well as environment and earths scarce resources are preserved.Apart from the environment issue another burning issue, which might emerge as an impediment is lack of trained skilled workforce to deliver value additions.In conclusion it can be said that although several tourism theories have been put forth by several scholars to determine the roles and activities, the characteristics of tourists to boost the industry. There is a general lack of awareness about these theories amidst the policy makers. Tourism industry is still one of those industries, which is regulated by governing body administration. There are wide varieties of conceptual and theoretical approaches to tourism, which have to be tested in reality. This obscure there is a fu rther need for more field studies and employment of professionals in conducting the research, which will help achieve greater theoretical orientation and practical application.The tourism industry has been growing at a phenomenal rate for the last fifty year especially, after the sulphur World War. The recession has had an set up on the industry, but the numbers of tourists worldwide are anticipated to be doubled to one billion plus by the end of 2010.Keeping in tune with the changing times consumer demands will also change, more classifications based on growing needs of tourists might emerge.What can be the cultural and social impact of tourism developmentResearchers have identified a whole gamut of positive impacts of tourism development on societies. For example the direct outcomes of tourism development would be the modification of the internal structure of the community, change magnitude employment opportunities of the local residents, social change, economic affluence, impr ovement of the quality of life through infrastructure development. similarly the interaction between the host and tourist increases tolerance and communication skills etc.On the cultural side the arts, crafts and culture of the local area might be revived. Researchers have also identified several cons like deployment of natural resources, increased pressure on existing infrastructure, commodification of culture and its negative effects etc (Beeton 18)Thus it can be seen in the essay how tourist behavioral needs, motivations, actions directly and indirectly affect tourism development in a place. Only right kind of practices would be able to give the necessary boost to this industry, which alone will contribute the largest chunk in global trade.Understanding the needs and motivations of the tourists will help boost tourism industry manifolds. What is required is the right approach. Tourists behavior research in tourism has to be based on motivations, typologies, destination choices a nd the decision process. While this is good some scholars criticize it as stereotypical and generalized which might not be the same in reality. The gap between the theories and the reality can be bridged through research and constant study of tourist behavior.ReferencesK Kamra 1997, Tourism Theory, Planning and Practice,Second Edition-2008 bastard Mason, Tourism Impacts, Planning and ManagementOnline book version), Second variate- 2008,Mason, P. Cheyne, J. (2000). Residents Attitudes to Proposed Tourism Development, Annals of Tourism Research.Peter Mason, Tourism Impacts, Planning and Management Second EditionAbraham Pizam, Yoel Mansfeld, Consumer behaviour in travel and tourism Softcover edition published 2000John Swarbrooke, Susan Horner, 2007, Consumer behaviour in tourism, Edition 2, p 4, 428 pagesSue Beeton 2006, Community Development through Tourism., p 18.