For long holiday tourism has been in the grip of economic thinking and sociological research. On this webpage a more balanced view is maintained on the focal centre of tourists' activities: tourists themselves and their encounter with their holiday destination. Tourists take what is given to them and then turn it into their own ends; it is these ends what is of our primary interest and more than 25 articles on this site are about just that: the tourists' tourism.
Under the heading "Tourism" a new article has been added on Climate Change (July, 2020)
and also under the heading "Tourism" I have added a new article about Phenomenology and Tourism (Feb. 2020).
The Tourist
Topic: Person
Return to TopicsFrom normal person to responsible traveller
During the second half of the 20th century tourism changed from a social activity to a merely economic one . Many travellers from earlier days changed into modern tourists.
However, under the influence of sustainable development principles and the urgency to conserve our environment there is a need to re-think the concept of tourism and especially the role the tourist plays in it.
By eliminating the economic separation of the tourist (client) on one hand and the tourism “industry” on the other and by joining these two forces into one major social activity called tourism, a basis can be laid for a gradual incorporation of tourists within the sustainable development process.
For sustainable tourism development to prosper we have to involve the most important actor: the tourist. However, the image of tourism as an economic activity and the tourist as Client hampers seriously any effort to get the social factors count: involving future generations.
Tourists have to start to understand that something is being expected from them. They have to fulfill a role in sustainable development and they have to be prepared for it. For us in the travel branch it is of utmost importance to push for a balanced sustainable tourist development, whereby the tourist has to be regarded as full fledged partner and not just another client.
The relationship between tourists and destination and the reflexivity that exists between them is our main focus of the reflexive approach to tourism.
The texts on this website have been developed to generate new concepts in tourism and, obviously, to arise one’s curiousity and to react to it.
Additionally, this website is not commercial and does not generate income; therefore for those who actively use its content we appreciate a voluntary contribution by pressing the DONATE button at the bottom of this page.
All rights reserved. Complete or partial reproduction is prohibited without the permission of Marinus Gisolf and without mentioning the source
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All rights reserved. Complete or partial reproduction is prohibited without the permission of Marinus Gisolf and without mentioning the source.