Tourism
Tourism is a set of activities aimed at meeting the needs related to the travel and stay of persons outside the place of permanent residence and usually in leisure time. Their goal is relaxation, cognition, health, distraction and entertainment, cultural and sports activities, business trips, i.e. to gain a comprehensive experience.
Tourism is an interdepartmental sector that directly affects the sphere of economy, industry, trade and services, finance, transport, regional development, culture, health, education, sports, environmental protection, forestry and water management, agriculture, employment, creation of new jobs and the competence of local governments. It is typical for tourism that while most other sectors deal with a relatively narrow segment of their activity on the vertical axis, the nature of tourism is such that it also connects different sectors on the horizontal axis. It therefore encompasses a number of problems that can only be solved through cooperation.
Tourism policy should be understood as a purposeful (programmatic) influence on the development of tourism through stakeholders (policy holders) and with the help of specific tools. As tourism is cross-cutting, its policy is also cross-cutting – its implementation is influenced by policies in several areas.
These are in particular:
- economic policy (exchange rate, price policy, tax policy, customs policy, transport policy);
(working hours, duration of holidays, employment policy, social and health security);
foreign policy (inter-state agreements on visa requirements, inter-state agreements on travel facilitation, recognition of travel documents, liberalisation of travel);
internal policy (internal security policy, protection of the safety of tourists and their property, quality of life, use of leisure time),
cultural policy (protection of cultural heritage, use of cultural monuments in tourism, regulation of visits to monuments, registration of monuments in the UNESCO list),environmental
policy (protection of natural heritage, rules for visitors in national parks, zoning of protected areas),
education and scientific-technical policy (preparation of graduates for professions in tourism, principles of scientific research),
state policy in the field of country promotion, marketing and promotion policy (promotion of tourism in the Slovak Republic, marketing activities, coordination of activities at home and abroad).
Tourism is an economic activity that is capable of generating growth and employment in the EU , while contributing to economic and social development and integration, especially in rural and mountainous areas, coastal regions, islands, peripheral and very remote regions. The European tourism sector, which is made up of around 1.8 million businesses, mainly small and medium-sized enterprises employing around 5.2% of the total workforce (about 9.7 million jobs with a significant share of young people), generates more than 5% of GDP in the EU and this rate is constantly increasing. Tourism thus represents the third largest socio-economic activity in the EU, after the trade and distribution sector and construction. With regard to related sectors, the contribution of tourism to GDP is even greater if we consider that it generates more than 10% of the European Union's GDP and around 12% of jobs. If we compare the development of the last ten years in this respect, employment growth in the tourism sector has always been more pronounced than in other sectors of the economy.
If a tourist visitor satisfies the needs of his own country, we speak of domestic tourism, but if he becomes a visitor in another state, we speak of foreign tourism. In terms of the effect on the economy of the state, foreign tourism is divided into active (incoming) and passive (outgoing). This breakdown is identical to the breakdown in terms of effects on the State's balance of payments.
Active foreign tourism – the arrival of foreign visitors to the destination country. It has the same effect as the export of goods. However, goods and services do not cross the state border, but foreign visitors come to the territory of the state to satisfy their needs there for the means of payment that they brought with them.
Passive foreign tourism – has the same effects as the import of goods, i.e. the inhabitants of the state travel abroad to meet their needs.
Transit passengers' consumption expenditures have the same effects on the national economy as active foreign tourism.
(1) GÚČIK, Marian et al.: Tourism, Hotel Management, Hospitality. Explanatory dictionary. 1st ed. Bratislava, 2006. ISBN 80-10-00360-3
