Tourism is the activities of people traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for leisure, business, or other purposes for not more than one consecutive year.
Tourism is a dynamic and competitive industry that requires the ability to adapt constantly to customers’ changing needs and desires, as the customer’s satisfaction, safety, and enjoyment are particularly the focus of tourism businesses.
There are three basic forms of tourism:
- Domestic tourism: It refers to activities of a visitor within their country of residence and outside of their home (e.g. Nepalese visiting other parts of Nepal).
- Inbound tourism: It refers to the activities of a visitor from outside the country of residence (e.g. an Indian visiting Nepal).
- Outbound tourism: It refers to the activities of a resident visitor outside of their country of residence (e.g. a Nepalese visiting an overseas country).
Components of tourism
Tourism does not exist in isolation; it consists of certain components without which it cannot be operated. The tour undertaken by an individual is influenced by various components such as:
1. Attraction
It is the main component of tourism products. Attractions are those elements, which determine the choice of tourists. Attraction creates a desire to travel and motivates travel.
They should be able to attract and attract tourists so they can participate in tourism activities. Attractions may be natural attractions, man-made attractions, event attractions, built-in attractions, and cultural and social attractions.
Mainly,
- Natural Attraction: Natural attractions are places made by nature. for e.g. natural beauty, climate, mountains, landscape, floral and faunal diversity, water resources, beaches, wildlife, caves, safari, etc.
- Man-Made Attraction: Man-made attractions are those attractions made by humans. e.g. monuments, historical buildings, festivals, music, churches, temples, Disney lands, leisure parks, museums, casinos, discos club
2. Accommodation
These are elements within the destination or related to the tour, that makes it possible for visitors to stay overnight. For the purpose of classification, all tourist accommodations have been divided into two groups
- Serviced accommodation: Includes hotels, lodges, resorts, inns, etc. operating as business enterprises and providing housekeeping facilities.
- Supplementary accommodation: These are not registered as a tourism organizations but provide accommodation facilities such as Dharamshalas, camping grounds, Youth hostels, etc.
3. Accessibility
Refers to the availability of transportation facilities to the destined attraction. These are the elements that affect the time value and dollar value of a traveler.
There are various modes of transportation available like roadways, airways, waterways, and railways. Ideally, transport should be comfortable, reliable, affordable, and appropriate for
the traveler, whichever mode it may be.
4. Amenities
Amenities are the services and facilities added with attraction, accommodation, and accessibility to create tourism. It is the soul of tourism that gives life to tourism. Without amenities, a destination will be a place, accommodation will be a local hotel, transport will be local transport, etc.
Amenities include various extra services and facilities required for the guest while traveling to different destinations.
5. Activities
Activities are the image or goodwill of a destination or organization. They strongly influence the customers’ buying decisions. Some of the activities which attract tourists are:
- Trekking in Nepal
- Mountain Climbing
- Cultural Tours & Heritage Sightseeing
- Luxury Private Helicopter Tour
- Bird Watching
- Rafting, Kayaking & Canyoning
- Mountain Flight
- Bungee Jumping
- Ultralight Aircraft
- Mountain Biking
- Jungle Safari
- Motorcycle Touring
- Blue sheep & Himalayan Tahr Hunting
- Heli Skiing
- 4*4 Off-Road Drive
Tourism is a very productive activity both for the tourist and the government, as they support each other simultaneously. Also, the government should consider improving the conditions of the country as more and more tourists visit their country and this will be possible when the components of tourism get improved and well established.
