Difference Between Tourism And Hospitality

The Difference Between Tourism and Hospitality

The terms tourism and hospitality, while often combined and sometimes used interchangeably, refer to two very distinct sectors, though they are not mutually exclusive. Lumped together with travel, tourism has been described as “human and business activities associated with one or more aspects of the temporary movement of persons away from their immediate home communities and daily work environments for business, pleasure and personal reasons” (Chadwick, 1994, 65). Furthermore, in attempt to define hospitality in a way that incorporates its core characteristics, Brotherton (1999) posits that hospitality is “a contemporaneous human exchange, which is voluntarily entered into, and designed to enhance

One main point of variation is that the tourism sector seems to be characterized by the activities and movement of overnight, same day and leisure day visitors to and/or from unfamiliar or away environments for varying periods of time while hospitality appears to focus on visitor care and satisfaction for the same groups. Tourism, therefore, is tasked with managing the destination details and resources: where the traveller is going, why he/she is going there, how he/she gets to and around the destination and what he/she is going to do there. However, hospitality answers the questions posed by tourism relative to managing the quality of the experience while facilitating the provision of some of the basic human needs of food (drink), shelter and socialization in the visited location. Although there is no explicit mention of the economic impact on/of tourism and hospitality, both definitions allude to derived benefits – non-tangible ones inclusive – in the provision and receipt of goods and/or services which are undoubtedly supported by expenditure on both

Notably, one disadvantage comes from the over-reliance of some countries’ economies on the sector. For countries whose bulk of income is generated by tourism, they are left unprotected against the negative impact of world events that adversely affect travel as these nations experience steep declines or fluctuations in income. These events include natural disasters, travel restrictions, cost increases, crime, and others that not only occur in the host countries but also in those from which the majority of visitors arrive.

Another disadvantage of tourism is the perceived loss of identity of the region’s nations. Tourism fuels development and development sometimes happens at the risk of losing the things unique to a destination. In his article, Boxill (2003) discusses the socio-cultural and environmental issues surrounding mass tourism and alludes to the preservation of the Caribbean nations’ identities through his delineation of the steps that should be undertaken by Belize to structure its tourism product using its geographic location, natural beauty, ecology and diverse culture as an alternative to mass tourism (pp.