Cultural Tours

Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; it also refers to the theory and practice of traveling, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. Tourism may be international or take place within the traveler’s own country. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism more broadly, in terms that go “beyond the common perception of tourism as being limited to vacation activities alone,” as people “traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for no more than one consecutive year for leisure, business, and other purposes.”

Tourism can be domestic or international, and international tourism has both incoming and outgoing effects on a country’s balance of payments. Today, tourism is a major source of income for many countries and affects the economies of both the source and host countries; in some cases, it is of vital importance.