Traveling is one effective way to see the world, experience new cultures and meet new people at the same time. For many tourists, however, traveling accomplishes many other purposes that don’t even have anything to do with the joy of visiting a new place. This is why there are many different types of tourism that explain why tourists choose a particular destination and the things that they expect to do when they are there.
Recreational Tourism
Tourism is an often activity for recreational purposes. Most tourism took for a change and rest; this is the reason why package tours have become so popular. Perhaps the most common type of tourism is what most people associate with traveling. This is when people go to a place that is very different from their regular day-to-day life to relax and have fun. Beaches, theme parks, and campgrounds are often the most common places frequented by recreational tourists.
Religious tourism is another type of tourism where people go to a religious location or locations to follow the footsteps of their founder or to attend a religious ceremony. Catholics, for example, go on pilgrimages in the Holy Land to experience the paths where Jesus walked. India represents the multi-religious composition of the population. Various package tours are organized to enable people to attend religious duties and visit places of religious importance. E.g. Char Dham yatra.
It is also commonly referred to as faith tourism, is a type of tourism, where people travel individually or in groups for pilgrimage, missionary, or leisure (fellowship) purposes.
The world’s largest form of mass religious tourism takes place in India at the Kumbh Mela pilgrimage, which attracts over 100 million pilgrims. North American religious tourists comprise an estimated $10 billion of the industry.
Modern religious tourists are more able to visit antique holy cities and holy sites around the world. The most famous holy sites are the Great Mosque of Mecca, the Holy Shrine of Imam Hoseyn in Karbala, the Holy Shrine of Imam Reza in Mashhad, the Holy Shrine of Lady Fatima Masuma in Qom, the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fátima in Cova da Iria, the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, the Western Wall in Jerusalem and the St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Religious tourism has existed since antiquity.
A study in 2011 found that 2.5 million people visited Karbala on the day of Arbaeen in 2013, pilgrims visited Jerusalem for a few reasons: to understand and appreciate their religion through a tangible experience, to feel secure about their religious beliefs, and to connect personally to the holy city.
Medical or health tourism is a relatively new type of tourist activity where the main focus of travel is improving one’s health, physical appearance or fitness. For instance, certain countries promote the expertise of their doctors and surgeons in the field of cosmetic surgery and invite foreigners to have their liposuction, facelift, nose lift and other forms of cosmetic procedures to be done there. Medical tourism also incorporates aspects of recreation tourism where the patient goes to a relaxing getaway to recover from the procedure.
Environmental Tourism
Rich and affluent tourists are preferred to spend more visits to remote places where they get pollution free airs to breathe.It is the tourism that is designed to contribute to the protection of the environment or at least minimizes damage to it, often involving travel to areas of natural interest in developing countries or participation in environmental projects
Historical Tourism
Tourist is interested to know how our forefather lived and administered in a particular area. They visit heritage locations, temples, churches, museums, forts, etc.
Ethnic Tourism
This refers to people traveling to distant places looking to their routes and attending to family obligations. Marriage and death bring people together to their native places. Persons who are settled overseas during the later part of life visit place of their birth for giving a boost to ethnic tourism.
Cultural Tourism
Some people are interested to know how other people or communities stay, survive and prosper. The kind of culture they practice their art and music is different from ours. So in order to acquire knowledge, understands culture well, to become familiar with the culture, they undertake a journey. If the objective of one’s visit to a particular place is to get to know its history and culture then this type of tourism is known as cultural tourism. Tourists may visit different landmarks of a particular country or they may simply opt to focus on just one area. They may also attend festivals and ceremonies in order to gain a better understanding of the people, their beliefs and their practices. If the objective of one’s visit to a particular place is to get to know its history and culture then this type of tourism is known as cultural tourism. Tourists may visit different landmarks of a particular country or they may simply opt to focus on just one area. They may also attend festivals and ceremonies in order to gain a better understanding of the people, their beliefs and their practices.
Adventure Tourism
There is a trend among the youth to take an adventure tour. They go for trekking, rock climbing, river rafting, etc. They organized campfire and stay under the blue sky. This tourism is meant for people with strong nerves who can tolerate stress.
Health Tourism
In recent years, health tourism has become highly popular. People visit nature cure centers and hospitals providing specialist treatment. Many foreigners visit India for treatment because similar services in their country are costly. It is a relatively new type of tourist activity where the main focus of travel is improving one’s health, physical appearance or fitness. For instance, certain countries promote the expertise of their doctors and surgeons in the field of cosmetic surgery and invite foreigners to have their liposuction, facelift, nose lift and other forms of cosmetic procedures to be done there. Medical tourism also incorporates aspects of recreation tourism where the patient goes to a relaxing getaway to recover from the procedure.
Music Tourism
It can be part of pleasure tourism as it includes the moment of people to sing and listen music and enjoy it. It is the act of visiting a city or town, to see a music festival or other music performances. This sort of tourism is particularly important to small villages such as Glastonbury, as well as large cities like Glasgow. Music festivals are visited by many tourists annually.
The Artful Music Tourist Board is a movement, started to celebrate this, in 2003 by musicians and their friends at The Paradise Bar (now Royal Albert pub) in London, UK.
Rural Tourism
It involves traveling and arranging tours in order to popularize various village destinations.
Rural tourism may be defined as the movement of people from their normal place of residence to rural areas for a minimum period of twenty-four hours to the maximum of six months for the sole purpose of leisure and pleasure. Rural tourism refers to all tourism activities in a rural area.
It can be an Eco and animal-friendly tourism. Wildlife tourism means watching wild animals in their natural habitat. Wildlife tourism is an element of many nations’ travel industry centered around observation and interaction with local animal and plant life in their natural habitats. While it can include eco- and animal-friendly tourism, safari hunting, and similar high-intervention activities also fall under the umbrella of wildlife tourism. Wildlife tourism, in its simplest sense, is interacting with wild animals in their natural habitat, either by actively (e.g. hunting/collection) or passively (e.g. watching/photography). Wildlife tourism is an important part of the tourism industries in many countries including many African and South American countries, Australia, India, Canada, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and the Maldives among many. It has experienced dramatic and rapid growth in recent years worldwide and many elements are closely aligned to eco-tourism and sustainable tourism.
Adventure tourism is another type of tourism that is catered for those who want to do more than just visit regular tourist sites. These kinds of trips involve challenging activities like rock climbing, mountain climbing, and wild water rafting. It is a type of niche tourism involving exploration or travel to remote areas, where the traveler should expect the unexpected. Adventure tourism is rapidly growing in popularity as tourists seek unusual holidays, different from the typical beach vacation. Mountaineering expeditions, trekking, bungee jumping, rafting, and rock climbing are frequently cited as an example of adventure tourism.
Sports and Pleasure Tourism
Many people today are stressed out in the corporate rat race and in need of rejuvenation. Thus, they go on trips that refresh their souls and spirits. This is called pleasure tourism and usually includes yoga workshops and detox vacations, among others. Others, however, de-stress by engaging in a particular sport. Called sports tourism, travelers here target places that are known for a particular sporting facility. Skiing, for example, is a type of sports tourism. Also included in this category are those who go to a destination to experience a sports spectacle such as the Olympics, FIFA World Cup, and others.
There are no strict delineations when tourists go on their trips. These kinds of tourism often overlap so it’s not unusual for travelers to experience more than one type of tourism in one vacation.
What is conflict tourism? Simply when countries urge their citizens to visit destinations (or not visit destinations) where they have a political/military argument. For instance, Russia banning tourists from visiting Turkey.
Ecotourism
Ecotourism is a form of tourism involving visiting fragile, pristine, and relatively undisturbed natural areas, intended as a low-impact and often small scale alternative to standard commercial mass tourism. It means responsible travel to natural areas, conserving the environment, and improving the well-being of the local people. Its purpose may be to educate the traveler, to provide funds for ecological conservation, to directly benefit the economic development and political empowerment of local communities, or to foster respect for different cultures and for human rights. Since the 1980s, ecotourism has been considered a critical endeavor by environmentalists, so that future generations may experience destinations relatively untouched by human intervention. Several university programs use this description as the working definition of ecotourism.
Going on a vacation might seem like a rather unconventional way to try to improve your sleep habits.
But sleep tourism has been growing in popularity for a number of years, with an increasing amount of sleep-focused stays popping up in hotels and resorts across the world.
Interest has skyrocketed since the pandemic, with a number of high profile establishments focusing their attention on those suffering from sleep-deprivation.
The Beach Holiday: A Post-World War II Phenomenon
Much of the post-World War II expansion of international tourism was based on beach holidays, which have a long history. In their modern, commercial form, beach holidays are an English invention of the 18th century, based on the medical adaptation of popular sea-bathing traditions. They built upon the positive artistic and cultural associations of coastal scenery for societies in the West, adhering to the informality and habits and customs of maritime society. Later beach holiday destinations incorporated the sociability and entertainment regimes of established spa resorts, sometimes including gambling casinos. Beach holidays built on widespread older uses of the beach for health, enjoyment, and religious rites, but it was the British who formalised and commercialised them. From the late 18th and early 19th centuries, beach resorts spread successively across Europe and the Mediterranean and into the United States. They also then took root in the European-settled colonies and republics of Oceania, South Africa, and Latin America and eventually reached Asia.
A Video on Medical Tourism in India
Video About Ecotourism
Sports Toursim
Recreational Tourism
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Hi Rashid,
Just finished your beautifully-written article. And what stunning photos! . I also have a blog and write about the same topic which is “Different Types Of Tourism”. Please check and share your views.
Thanks
Ruma Dey Baidya
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