Tourism Demand to the Portfolio of a Developing and Developed Country Research Paper

Tourism Demand to the Portfolio of a Developing and Developed Country - Research Paper Example Tourism is defined as travel for the purpose of business, leisure or recreation. However, tourism is a very important sector for several economies because of the resultant inflows of huge amounts of money in business activities as well as creation of employment opportunities in services associated with tourism such as hospitality services, cruise ships, entertainment, airlines and transport. This paper has examined the different aspects of tourism demand and after having defined the concepts and models of tourism, a detailed analysis has been made of the demand for tourism in Switzerland and Indonesia. In arriving at the different conclusions, this paper has mainly relied on journals, magazines and books that are available on the internet. Tourism is understood as the activity related to people moving away from their normal environments for reasons that are diverse from their work or profession. Tourism is not a new phenomenon and was favored with individuals that wished to enhance t heir education while the wealthy class traveled largely for pleasure, for socializing or to personally visit destinations that were widely described in the literature or reported by travelers. With the improvement of transport systems in terms of speed and comfort, the flow of visitors increased even to far flung areas. In recent times the traveling habits of people have increased considerably primarily because of: Fast, secure and comparatively cheap modes of transport Increasing interests relative to knowing of new cultures Widespread information about the attractiveness of different places Increasing disposable incomes and leisure time in several parts of the world The earliest attempts to study tourism were made by Ogilvie (1933) who held that the word tourism was the result of the curiosity of language because till that time there was no such word in the English language. He wrote that it can be used to describe an individual that simply leaves his home or country with the obje ctive of coming back to his home after some time. His definition of tourists was, â€Å"all people who satisfy two conditions, that they are away from home for any period of less than a year and second, that while they are away they spend money in the place they visit without earning it there† (Ogilvie, 1933, p.5). In considering Ogilvie’s definition, Burkart and Medlik (1981) identified four major characteristics of tourism: They are people who undertake journeys to stay in various destinations (Burkart and Medlik, 1981, p.42). Their destinations are distinct from their normal place of residence and work so that their activities are not the same as those of the residents and working populations of their destinations (Burkart and Medlik, 1981, p.42). Their intention is to return within a few days or months, so the journey is of a temporary and short term nature (Burkart and Medlik, 1981, p.42). Their purpose for undertaking the journey is other than to take up permanen t residence or employment remunerated from within the destinations (Burkart and Medlik, 1981, p.42). A socialist approach has been adopted by Cohen (1974) in defining a tourist as, â€Å"a voluntary, temperory traveler traveling in the expectation of