Introduction to Tourism and Hospitality Industry
What this domain tests
The examiner wants precise definitions: who counts as a tourist, what the five components of a tourism system are, and how hospitality sits inside tourism.
Core rules
- Tourism: activities of visitors travelling to and staying outside their usual environment for less than one year, for leisure, business or other purposes.
- Visitor = tourist + excursionist. A tourist stays at least 24 hours (one night); an excursionist (same-day visitor) does not.
- The five A's: Attraction, Accessibility, Accommodation, Amenities, Ancillary services (guides, banking, telecom, shopping, insurance).
- Classifications: domestic/international; inbound/outbound; leisure, business, VFR, medical, religious, MICE.
- Characteristics: intangibility, perishability, inseparability, variability, seasonality. Perishability is why an unsold room for tonight can never be sold later for tonight, hence dynamic pricing and yield management.
- Industry sectors: accommodation, food and beverage, transport, travel trade, attractions, MICE, tourism services.
Impacts to quote
Economic: foreign exchange, employment, investment multiplier, regional development. Socio-cultural: craft revival and local pride, but also crowding and commodification of ritual. Environmental: pressure on carrying capacity, waste, water use.
Worked example
A Pune resident spends two nights in Mumbai on business - domestic tourist (outside usual environment, overnight, business purpose). A Singapore passenger on a cruise spends eight hours sightseeing in Mumbai and returns to the ship - excursionist, not a tourist, though counted in total visitor arrivals. A Pune family returning from Lonavala the same evening - also an excursionist. Reasoning: two tests decide it, overnight stay and usual environment.
Traps
Equating tourism with holiday travel only (business and VFR travellers count); counting excursionists as tourists; dropping ancillary services from the five A's; ignoring the one-year limit.