Glossary

A

Agritourism

“Agritourism describes the act of visiting a working farm or any agricultural, horticultural or agribusiness operation to enjoy, be educated or be involved in activities.

Examples of agritourism are…

• farm tours for families and school children,
• day camps,
• hands-on chores,
• self-harvesting of produce,
• hay or sleigh rides, and
• overnight stays in a bed and breakfast”[1].

B

Biodiversity

Biodiversity is the variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or for the entire Earth. Biodiversity is often used as a measure of the health of biological systems. The biodiversity found on Earth today consists of many millions of distinct biological species, which is the product of nearly 3.5 billion years of evolution

Business Tourism

IMEX describes business tourism as: “the provision of facilities and services to the millions of delegates who annually attend meetings, congresses, exhibitions, business events, incentive travel and corporate hospitality”.

C

Community-based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM)

“CBNRM can be loosely described as a creative process that relies on adaptive learning and action involving people and organisations who share and use a natural resource. It differs from traditional policies and research in that it works with the local men and women most directly involved with natural resource management. These are often the rural poor or ethnic minorities who are politically and economically isolated. CBNRM recognises that these men and women have an intimate knowledge of the local resource base and are motivated to ensure it remains productive if they can be assured of benefiting”.

Community-Based Tourism (CBT)

“CBT is the involvement of the local community in the development and management of a tourism project. It provides the local community a means of controlling tourism and thus reduces leakage effects. In CBT a partnership exists between the local communities and an external partner like NGO’s, foreign governments, international organisations and private organisations”[2].

Conservation

The preservation, protection, management, or restoration of wildlife and of natural resources such as trees, water, and soil.

Culinary Tourism

Culinary Tourism is defined as the pursuit of unique and memorable eating and drinking experiences.

Cultural Tourism

Cultural Tourism includes tourism activities concerned with a region or country’s culture i.e. contextual elements such as religion, history and art which shape ways of life.

D

E

Eco-tourism

TIES describes responsible travel as travel “to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well-being of local people”.

Educational Tourism

An educational tourist is someone who’s main reason for visiting a country/area/site is education.

F

Fair Trade in Tourism (FTT)

“FTT holds that without fair and ethical trade practice, it is not possible to achieve sustainable tourism. FTT aims to maximise the benefits from tourism for local destination stakeholders, through mutually beneficial and equitable partnerships. FTT also supports the right of indigenous host communities, whether involved in tourism or not, to participate as equal stakeholders and beneficiaries in the tourism development process”[3]. “[FTT] is about ensuring that the people whose land, natural resources, labour, knowledge and culture are used for tourism activities, actually benefit from tourism”.

G

H

Heritage Tourism

This is a sub-division of tourism oriented towards the cultural heritage of the location where tourism occurs.

I

J

K

L

LGBT Tourism

Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) tourism covers a number of spheres: travelers looking to visit LGBT-friendly destinations, countries and cities which whish to attract LGBT tourists, LGBT travelers who are concerned with health and safety issues and people wanting to travel with other LGBT tourists. The LGBT tourism industry includes travel agents, tour companies, cruise lines and travel advertising and promotions companies who market these destinations to the gay community.

M

Mass Tourism

“Mimicking mass production in the manufacturing sector, tourism was developed along assembly-line principles: holidays were standardised and inflexible; identical holidays were mass produces; and economy of scale was the driving force of production. Likewise, holidays were consumed en masse in a similar, robot-like and routine manner, with a lack of consideration for the norms, culture and environment of host countries visited”[4].

Medical Tourism

Is tourism which concentrates on offering customers medical procedures (both cosmetic and non-cosmetic procedures are common).

Millennium Development Goals

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), endorsed by governments at the United Nations in September 2000, aimed “to improve human well-being by reducing poverty, hunger, child and maternal mortality, ensuring education for all, controlling and managing diseases, tackling gender disparity, ensuring sustainable development and pursuing global partnerships”.

The eight MDGs are:

Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education
Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women
Goal 4: Reduce child mortality
Goal 5: Improve maternal health
Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other disease
Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development”

N

Nature Tourism

“Nature tourism is the travel through and enjoyment of the natural world, its seasonal cycles and events, carried out in a manner that promotes the protection of natural and human communities and consideration for those who will inherit our world”.

Non-governmental Organisation

“A non-governmental organization (NGO) is any non-profit, voluntary citizens’ group which is organized on a local, national or international level. Task-oriented and driven by people with a common interest, NGOs perform a variety of service and humanitarian functions, bring citizen concerns to Governments, advocate and monitor policies and encourage political participation through provision of information. Some are organized around specific issues, such as human rights, environment or health. They provide analysis and expertise, serve as early warning mechanisms and help monitor and implement international agreements. Their relationship with offices and agencies of the United Nations system differs depending on their goals, their venue and the mandate of a particular institution”.

Non-profit Organisation

“A nonprofit organization is formed for the purpose of serving a public or mutual benefit other than the pursuit or accumulation of profits for owners or investors. ‘The nonprofit sector is a collection of entities that are organizations; private as opposed to governmental; non-profit distributing; self-governing; voluntary; and of public benefit’[5]. The nonprofit sector is often referred to as the third sector, independent sector, voluntary sector, philanthropic sector, social sector, tax-exempt sector, or the charitable sector”.

O

P

Pro-Poor Tourism

“Pro-Poor Tourism (PPT) is tourism that results in increased net benefits for poor people… It enhances the linkages between tourism businesses and poor people so that tourism’s contribution to poverty reduction is increased and poor people are able to participate more effectively in product development”.

Protected Area

“An area of land and/or sea especially dedicated to the protection and maintenance of biological diversity and of natural and associated cultural resources, managed through legal or other effective means”.

Q

R

Responsible Tourism:

• “minimises negative economic, environmental, and social impacts;
• generates greater economic benefits for local people and enhances the well-being of host communities, improves working conditions and access to the industry;
• involves local people in decisions that affect their lives and life chances;
• makes positive contributions to the conservation of natural and cultural heritage, to the maintenance of the world’s diversity;
• provides more enjoyable experiences for tourists through more meaningful connections with local people, and a greater understanding of local cultural, social and environmental issues;
• provides access for physically challenged people; and
• is culturally sensitive, engenders respect between tourists and hosts, and builds local pride and confidence”[6].

S

Sustainable Tourism

“[Makes] optimal use of environmental resources that constitute a key element in tourism development, maintaining essential ecological processes and helping to conserve natural heritage and biodiversity. [It] respect[s] the socio-cultural authenticity of host communities, conserve[s] their built and living cultural heritage and traditional values, and contribute[s] to inter-cultural understanding and tolerance. [It] ensures viable, long-term economic operations, providing socio-economic benefits to all stakeholders that are fairly distributed, including stable employment and income-earning opportunities and social services to host communities, and contributing to poverty alleviation”.

T

Travel

“To be on a journey, often for pleasure or business and with luggage; to go from one place to another”.

Tourism

The United Nations classified three forms of tourism in 1994, in its ‘Recommendations on Tourism Statistics: Domestic tourism’, “which involves residents of the given country traveling only within this country; Inbound tourism, involving non-residents traveling in the given country; and Outbound tourism, involving residents traveling in another country”.

Tourist

People who “travel to and stay in places outside their usual environment for more than twenty-four (24) hours and not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes not related to the exercise of an activity remunerated from within the place visited”.

Transfrontier Conservation Areas

“The SADC Member States have demonstrated their commitment to the conservation of biodiversity by signing the Protocol on Wildlife Conservation and Law Enforcement in 1999 and ratifying it at the end of 2003. Article 4(f) of this Protocol commits the SADC Member States to ‘promote the conservation of the shared wildlife resources through the establishment of transfrontier conservation areas’. In this Protocol, a TFCA is defined as ‘the area or component of a large ecological region that straddles the boundaries of two or more countries encompassing one or more protected areas as well as multiple resources use areas’”.

U

V

Visitor

“A person who pays a visit; caller, guest, tourist, etc”.

W

Wildlife Tourism

“Tourism that is based on free ranging and captive wildlife”.

X

Y

Z

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[1] Agricultural Marketing Resource Center (2009). ‘Agritourism’. See http://www.agmrc.org/commodities__products/agritourism/

[2] Gheysen, Simon, Robberecht, Len, Theunissen, Gijs and Truyen, Wouter (2008). Sustainable Tourism in Sub-Saharan Africa: In Search for Good and Bad Practices. Master’s dissertation.

[3] Seif, Jennifer (2001) ‘Facilitating Market Access for South Africa’s Disadvantaged Communities and Population Groups through “Fair Trade in Tourism”’. Fair Trade in Tourism South Africa / IUCN-South Africa and University of Chicago.

[4] Poon, Auliana (1993). ‘Tourism, technology and competitive strategies’. CABI.

[5] Salamon, Lester M. (1999) America’s Nonprofit Sector: A Primer. New York: The Foundation Center.

[6] Cape Town Declaration (2002). ‘Cape Town Conference on Responsible Tourism in Destinations’. See http://www.capetown.gov.za/en/tourism/Documents/Responsible%20Tourism/Toruism_RT_2002_Cape_Town_Declaration.pdf