self -study:overview of my subject area(I nternational Tourism Management)

Overview of International Tourism Management

Tourism is "the activities of a person outside his or her usual environment for less than a specified period of time and whose main purpose of travel is other than exercise of an activity remunerated from the place visited."(the International Conference on Travel and Tourism Statistics convened by the World Trade Organization(WTO,in 1991)

Tourism has become a popular global leisure activity. Many countries get the large intake of money for businesses with their goods and services and the opportunity for employment in the service industries associated with tourism.

WTO divides the tourism in five main branches:
Inbound international tourism: visits to a country by nonresidents of a country to other countries
Outbound international tourism: visits by the residents of a country to other countries
Internal tourism: visits by residents of a country with their own country
Domestic tourism: Internal tourism+Inbound international tourism
National tourism: Internal tourism+Outbound international tourism


Today, tourism is at a crossroad. It faces some important issues, such as the increasing concern with the world’s environment, the globalization of tourism, the deregulation and removal of barriers to travel and tourism, the increasing sophistication and expectations of travelers, the creation of new tourism partnerships and new technologies.
As a result of the economic crisis of 2008, international arrivals suffered a strong slowdown beginning in June 2008. Despite of this fact, I believe tourism have quite a bright future. With the advent of e-commerce, tourism products and services will become one of the most traded items on the internet. Technological improvement is likely to make possible transportation and new partnership of tourism welcomed and well satisfied the tourists.

References:

World Tourism Organization (October 2008). "UNWTO World Tourism Barometer October 2008"
(PDF). UNWTO. Retrieved on 2008-11-17. Volume 6, Issue 3

Robert Christie Mill & Alastair M. Morrison(1998),Tourism System