Trends in Contemporary Tourism:
In the dynamic world of international tourism, tourism creates a complex that keeps diversity and innovation going. From the first footsteps of mass tourism to the fact that the digital age has transformed how tourism is experienced, it has become the most dynamic sector. Tourism is when people move voluntarily from their usual environment to other places for recreation, business, or other reasons (Leiper, 1979). This entails that tourism is about preserving cultural diversity, developing economic activity, and environmental sustainability. Therefore, this task will look at the historical landmarks, humanizing motivational theories, and social effects of modern tourism, which will give a thorough understanding of this complex phenomenon.
The evolution of tourism today looks like a smart car with its wheels turned by different factors, and some of those pinned with significant events that have comprised tourism transformation. For example, to a certain extent, UNWTO (2023) reveals the patterns of tourism planning theories in light of the digitalization of the services industry. The theories ranged from best practices to pseudo-tourism models and focused on responding to the needs of the modern world, which is influenced by technology. These works enrich our knowledge about how tourism, not just amusement, has recently become a strategic domain directing strategic decisions, planning methodologies, and economic paradigms.
Many historically prominent events have often determined what tourism is today and have critically impacted the future of the worldwide travel and entertainment sectors. Lickorish and Jenkins (2007), through their exploration of tourism’s historical context, highlight turning points critical to the discipline’s development and future outlook. “The development of mass tourism was another milestone and is considered one of the most significant changes the Tourism industry has faced” (Miller et al.,2019). The tourist expansion on a planetary scale began at the turn of the century, particularly with the vast rise in the number of people going on leisure trips.
On the positive side, mass tourism increased jobs and economic prosperity for the communities that live around popular tourist destinations (Fletcher, 2017). Nevertheless, it has also raised alarm in environmental and socio-cultural fields surrounding tourism. The fact then triggered a switch to developing ecotourism methods, which embody responsible travel behavior and conservation of the environment. Accepting inability in tourism is a must set discreet points in this industry’s development history. It echoed social awareness of the environmental conservation shifting attitudinal perspective and requirements to protect nature and cultural heritage. The aspect is highlighted by Stinaton’s (2020) article, which focuses on the milestones tourism has undergone to reach its current state. The pattern of tourism since its antiquity, from the 17th and 18th centuries Grand Tour that defined tourism today to the recent waves of ecotourism and cultural heritage preservation.
Travel motivational theories present angles of a psychological nature, which help to understand human travel intention and decision-making process. Factually, Page (2009) explains the fundamental reasons that drive individuals to participate in tourism activities. Individuals can have entirely different aspirations while traveling, leading to factors like relaxing, doing adventure, and cultural or social exploration props up. According to UNESCO (2023), the USA offered 1.8 billion domestic leisure trips, generating about $650 billion in spending supporting 5.5 million American jobs. This shows how much funds are pumped into leisure activities.
Crompton’s push-pull model by Crompton (2004). they served as a basis for discovering the correlation between internal motives (the push factors) and the attraction factors that exist at the destination (pull factors), which, all together, determine travel decisions. Push factors are internal urges and needs that motivate people to seek to travel and enjoy seeing the world’s wonders. These motivations include relaxing and escaping from routine and everyday life (UNESCO, 2023). Push factors are the circumstances that force people to travel because they want to get away from the problems of their home, like poverty, environmental issues, or a limited range of available activities (Sharma, 2021).On the contrary, the attractions of destinations can be seen among the push factors – beautiful landscapes, culture, and free time activities that encourage travel to certain places.
A theory developed by Maslow known as the Hierarchy of Needs explains a comprehensive reality revealing that individuals prioritize their travel adventure choices depending on their need level classification. Maslow’s theory has shown that people first try to meet their basic physiological needs, like food or accommodation; after that, they express other safety concerns and become social beings, ultimately earning their self-esteem. Finally, they reach the peak of self-actualization (Crompton, 2004 ). For instance, travelers previously might have been inclined to choose destinations that offer them the desired safety and comfortable accommodation by first planning the possibility of interacting with their hosts or just relaxing and rejuvenating.
The philosophy of travel motivations of Plog, whose work was intensively described by UNESCO (2023), is an identification of different psychographic groups of travelers with their prevailing personality traits and travel preferences. There are two fundamental interests, namely allocentric, a keen interest in exploring and discovering new morbidities, and psychometrics, which are comfortable with traveling in the same old places over and over. The segmentation, in turn, generates a sophisticated perception of tourists with varied needs that destination marketers can capitalize on to create targeted strategies that would be well-received by those in the market segments due to their connection to the offerings, thus giving them a broader base of travelers.
The development of present-day tourism demonstrates the fluctuating equilibrium of historical snippets, humanizing motivational principles, and social implications. There is a great deal of growth in the tourism industry in this area – from the creation of mass tourism to the birth of ecotourism and cultural heritage preservation. Chi-Phuong’s motives, for instance, Crompton’s push-pull model, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, and Plog’s psychographic segmentation theories explain human travel intention and decision-making processes. These theorists, however, demonstrate varied explanations underlying the tourism phenomenon, from escape to cultural discoveries. Generally, current tourism can be considered a multidimensional phenomenon whose shape is determined by past events.
References
Cook, R.A., Hsu, C.H. and Taylor, L.L., (2018). Tourism: The business of hospitality and travel (Vol. 6). New York: Pearson.
Crompton, J.L., 2004. Motivations for pleasure vacation. Ed.) Williams, S., Tourism: Critical Concepts in the Social Sciences, Taylor&Francis, USA, pp.84-103.
Fletcher, J., Fyall, A., Gilbert, D. and Wanhill, S., 2017. Tourism: Principles and practice. Pearson UK.
Leiper, N., 1979. The tourism framework: Towards a definition of tourism, tourist, and the tourist industry. Annals of tourism research, 6(4), pp.390-407.
Lickorish, L.J. and Jenkins, C.L., 2007. Introduction to tourism. Routledge.
Miller, Richard K. and Washington, K. (2019) Travel and Tourism Market Research Handbook 2019-2020. 16th edn. Miramar: Richard K. Miller & Associates.
Page, S. and Connell, J. (2009) Tourism A modern synthesis. Nashville: South-Western.
Sharma, S. (2021) Introduction to Tourism. New Delhi: SAGE Publications.
UNESCO (2023) UNESCO Tourism Program. Available at: https://whc.unesco.org/uploads/activities/documents/activity-669-7.pdf (Accessed: 06 October 2023).
UNWTO (2023) International Tourism Highlights, 2023 Edition. Available at: International Tourism Highlights, 2023 Edition – The Impact of COVID-19 on Tourism (2020–2022) (e-unwto.org) (Accessed: 06 October 2023).
write