Defining Tourism
Tourism is the sum of the phenomena and the relationships arising from the travel and stay of non residents in so far as, they do not lead to permanent residence and are not connected to any earning activity. Five main characteristics of tourism may be conceptualized:

1 Tourism arises from a movement of people to and their stay in various destinations.

2 There are two elements in all tourism: the journey to the destination and the stay including activities at the destination.

3 The journey and the stay takes place outside the normal place of residence and work so that tourism gives rise to activities which are distinct from those of the resident and working population of the places through which tourist travel and in which they stay.

4 The movement to destinations is of a temporary short term character with intention to return within a few days, weeks or months.

5 Destinations are visited for purposes other than taking up permanent residence or employment remunerated from within the places visited.

Tourism is broken down as a concept and a technical condition.

Concept: A broad framework which identifies the essential characteristics and which distinguish tourism from similar often related but different phenomena.

Technical: The technical provides instruments for a particular study. The study can be statistical, legal, administrative and industrial purposes.

Tourism Attraction and characteristics
For an activity or auxiliary service to take place it must have a foundation.

• Primary attractions influences a traveler’s decision about where to go, are often the main reason for visiting an area and are closely linked to the image of the destination as promoted in the marketing campaign.

• Secondary attractions are those that enhance the tourist experience but are not of the major destination selection process.

The characteristics of visitor attractions include:
• Quality
• Originality
• Uniqueness
• Drawing power
• Activities auction

It is the combination of these elements that sets attractions apart from one another

Quality: is a key guiding value in tourism development. For any attraction this means having a pleasing clean appearance offering smooth customer oriented operations and procedures, resource protection and friendly hospitality. (putting down wheelchair ramps for the disabled tourists) Originality: means being real matters, letting the distinctive local flavor of a community shine through in ways that creates and produces a sense of place.

Uniqueness: the edge that sets an attraction in your community apart from the competition somewhere else.

Drawing Power: is measured in terms of the number of visitors who will travel a distance to visit your community and if they will return for repeat visits.

Activities Auction: are important characteristics of attraction. The first impulse is to concentrate on buildings, sites and facilities but it is also important to remember the activities that provide residents and visitors things to do.

Tourism as a Complex Industry
Tourism is indeed a complex industry. It involves both the public and private sectors to be successful. Each has a role to play. Increasingly the industry is moving more and more to industry alliances to be able to produce better results.

Tourism is unlike other industries for example: a food manufacture will produce products in one location that are then taken to sales outlets near consumers for ease of purchase. Most consumers live within a short drive of where they can examine the products before making the purchase and take it home.

By comparison tourism produces products some distance away from the customer. To access the product it is necessary for customers to travel to its point of availability. Customers also have no opportunity to examine the product before buying and have to rely on their knowledge of the products and recommendation of others i.e travel agents or cooperators when making the purchase or booking before traveling.

Another significant difference is that where, say, various food products are together on a supermarket shelf for easy comparison. Tourism products that customers are considering e.g destinations, may be many miles away from each other. Before making a commitment to go to one destination or another taking a cruise, or perhaps a honeymoon the customer needs to make a decision as to where and how they will spend their leisure time. Then they plan their itinerary and make bookings or purchases.

Defining the tourism product
It means the combination of products, particularly services which make up the total experience. Defining and communicating the tourism product is key to a successful marketing. A tourism product consists of two components: attributes (rooms, transportation and conference facilities) and benefits (achievements to customer after buying the product-relaxation, learning or exploring).