Definitions of Tourism Essay

Tourism is a booming industry and a driving force in positive economical, ecological, sustainable, social and cultural developments in several countries around the globe. Its complex nature requires sophisticated management in order to reach its full potential. Most people possess an intuitive and basic understanding of tourism, which focuses on an image of people travelling for recreational purposes, however, tourism, goes far beyond this simplistic view. According to Stear (2005), the area of studying tourism has an apparent lack of substance when it comes to defining the basic terms ‘tourism’ and ‘tourist’. Although the concept of tourism itself has been around for many centuries, the academic study of tourism in the tertiary educational sector is a recent development. There is no single definition of tourism to which everyone adheres. Many definitions have been used over the years, some of which are universal and can be applied to any situation, while others fulfil a specific purpose. This essay aims to define who exactly a ‘tourist’ is and what the term ‘tourism’ means through technical and heuristic definitions from articles written by Stear (2005), Dickman (1997), and McIntosh et al (1995). Throughout the essay definitions from organisations such as the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) will also be drawn upon. The ambiguity of two seemingly simple concepts in theory – who a tourist is and what tourism entails – will be discussed through a range of academic articles, which will address and highlight the strengths, weaknesses and differences between them. The foci and boundaries of each definition will be determined in order to assess their effectiveness. Whilst each definition is unique in their own right, there are also many similarities, which can be noted. Weaver (2010) states that â€Å"the definition of ‘tourism’ is dependent on the definition of the ‘tourist’ and when defining whom exactly is a ‘tourist’, individuals must simultaneously meet certain spatial, temporal and purposive criteria†, which will be discussed below. First and foremost, Stear (2005) defines tourism as â€Å"†¦Tourism is travel and temporary stay, involving at least one night away from the region of a person’s usual home that is undertaken with the major expectation of satisfying leisure needs that are perceived as being more njoyably able to be satisfied by being at places outside of, and qualitatively different to, the home region † (Stear 2005, pg. 8). Stear also has a clear definition of a tourist, which he refers to as â€Å"†¦ A tourist is a person engaging in activities directly associated with present or future travel and temporary stay that involves at least one night away from the region of their usual home that is undertaken with the major expectation of satisfying leisure needs that are perceived as being more enjoyably able to be satisfied by places outside of, and qualitatively different to, the home region. (Stear 2005, pg. 11) A clear fault of Stear’s heuristic definitions of ‘tourism’ and ‘tourist’ is the limitation or restriction of the time period of â€Å"at least one night away†, in which Stear fails to take into account the temporal element of tourism. The notion of how long, if any time at all, that must be spent away from one’s usual home is an aspect, which is not uniform amongst definitions of tourism. Another weakness of Stear’s definitions is the l imitation of â€Å"the region of a person’s usual home†, which implies that physically moving away from your home would make you a tourist. According to the UNWTO (cited in Weaver, 2010), for an individual to qualify as a tourist â€Å"travel must occur beyond the individual’s ‘usual environment’†. The spatial boundary of tourism as discussed by Weaver (2010) is unclear in this instance as an individual who lives in Sydney but stays in Canberra during the week for work would then be considered a tourist under this definition. Whilst Stear’s (2005) definition states a minimum stay requirement to be considered a tourist, it does not state a maximum timeframe, unlike that of other definitions, which clearly state a maximum period of time before someone loses the title of ‘tourist’. The UNWTO (1995) provides a more technical definition and defines tourism as an individual â€Å"travelling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes. † This definition is broader in scope compared to Stear’s (2005), which specifies that an individual who travels is only a tourist when their travel is â€Å"undertaken with the major expectation of satisfying leisure needs. † The UNWTO definition (cited in Weaver, 2010) is complemented by Dickman’s (1997, pg. 7) who identifies a tourist as â€Å"†¦a visitor who travels to a place utside his/her usual environment for at least one night but no more than six months (domestic) or one year (international) and whose main purpose of visit is other than the exercise of an activity remunerated from within the place visited† and tourism as â€Å"†¦a non-essential activity, or one that is predominantly rela ted to leisure activities† (Dickman, 1997 pg. 7). Compared to Stear’s (2005) definition of tourism, Dickman’s (1997) heuristic definition is very brief and extremely vague as spatial relevance and time period are both not addressed. Furthermore, Dickman’s (1997) definition is limited as it only refers to the activity side of tourism whereas Leiper (2004) discusses a basic tourism system involving the tourist, the generating region, the transit route, the destination and the movement in between. Despite this limitation, a major strength of Dickman’s (1997) definition is that it defines and takes into consideration the differences between domestic and international tourists. This comparison has also been addressed by Weaver (2010) who declares that a domestic tourist is one that travels within their own country of residence, whilst an international tourist travels outside their usual country of residence. The third and final authors McIntosh et al. (1995) describes tourism as â€Å"†¦the entire world industry of travel, hotels, transportations, and all other components, including promotion, that serves the needs and wants of travellers. Tourism today has been given new meaning and is primary a term of economics referring to the industry†. On the other hand, ‘tourist’ is defined as â€Å"†¦a person who travels from place to place for non work reasons by U. N. definition, a tourist is someone who stays for more than one night and less than a year. Business and convention travel is included. This thinking is dominated by balance-of-trade concepts. Military personnel, diplomats, immigrants and resident students are not tourists† (McIntosh et al. , 1995). The heuristic definition above of ‘tourism’ incorporates the industry as a whole, which is a major strength in comparison to the other definitions, hich only take into account the physical act of travelling. The tourism industry is not identifiable as a standard industry but is rather an amalgamation of parts of other conventional industries such as retail, hospitality, accommodation, entertainment and transport (Weaver, 2010). The incorporation of ‘tourism’ as an industry takes on a different approach to defining tourism and makes finding a clarified and universal meaning for ‘tourism’ and ‘tourist’ even more complicated. McIntosh et al. 1995) refer to the tourist in a very specific manner including different types of tourists such as business tourists, which is a strong point, as a tourist can’t be just defined in one aspect. According to Weaver (2010), â€Å"a basic tourist criterion concerns travel purpose which is dominated by three major categories – leisure and recreation, visiting friends and relative and business. † Compared to Stear (2005) and Dickman’s (1997) narrow definitions, McIntosh et al. (1995) have a much broader, flexible view on defining tourism and the tourist. In both definitions of ‘tourist’ Dickman (1997) and McIntosh et al. 1995) describe an individual moving out of their ‘usual environment’, which is considered a key element in the definition. Weaver (2010) supports this definition in his discussion of fulfilling the spatial component in order to be considered a tourist. Whilst this is considered a highly subjective concept, many tourism bodies specify minimum distance thresholds, which â€Å"serve the useful purpose of [differentiating] those who bring outside revenue into the local area from those who circulate revenue internallyâ €  (Weaver, 2010, pg. 22-23). When reviewing the definition by McIntosh et al. 1995), a key downfall is the reference to ‘resident students’ not being considered tourists, which can be questioned. An international student may wish to travel overseas first to experience the culture of the country they plan on studying in, however under this definition, even if they wish to take part in and visit tourist attractions which are recreational and leisure based they aren’t considered tourists. Most people do not intuitively associate study or formal education with tourism however it is considered a qualifying criterion by the UNWTO. In Australia alone, in 2007-08 international students accounted for around 7% of all inbound arrivals (Weaver, 2010, pg. 29). In conclusion, the complicated task of defining two simple terms ‘tourism’ and ‘tourist’ has been made somewhat clearer through the definitions provided by Stear (2005), Dickman (1997) and McIntosh et al. (1995). Whilst all three authors have different perspectives on how to define these terms, they also have a few aspects that seem to cross over. Considering all the definitions by the three authors Stear (2005), Dickman (1997) and McIntosh et al. 1995) it is hard to argue which definition is more just and accurate than the other as they all have their strengths and weaknesses. From the research conducted, Stear’s (2005) definition of a ‘tourist’ is the most flexible and relevant in the context of today’s society however; Dickman’s (1997) definition of ‘tourism’ is most accurate as it incorporates the entire tourism industry and not just the physical act of traveling. Ultimately, ‘tourist’ and ‘tourism’ are indefinable as we all have our own personal views and perspectives on which definitions fit the context of the situation.

Assessing a Company’s Financial Future Essay

It is detrimental for higher-level management in a company to assess the long-term financial health of the institution. Throughout history there have been depictions of several corporations taking on lucrative and highly ambitious initiatives to increase the wealth of the company. These companies come to find out their programs could not be funded as anticipated. This paper will show how proper strategy and a step –by-step process will successfully be able to assess a company’s financial future. In this case we will be looking at performance measures based upon the income statements and balance sheets of SciTronics (A medical device company). It is imperative that the measures are grouped into three types: (1) profitability measures (sales), (2) activity (asset management) measures, and (3) leverage and liquidity measures. (Piper, 1-6) Page 6: 1-3 1. By assessing the performance of SciTronics during the 2005-2008 periods we see that it’s profitability ratio increased. The company is heading in the right direction. In terms of sales we can see in the below table that the company has increased it’s net income. 2. SciTronics financial strength and its access to external sources have improved. This is evident from the financial ratios of profitability and leverage. 3. a. What will management do to maintain current liabilities that had been increased during the 05-08 period? b. As seen in Table 1 the salary and employee expenses are very high in the company. We can see by looking at Sell, General and Admin that it has decreased which is good. The company doesn’t want to pay out to employees too much. This interpretation varies with different companies. Most companies want their employees income to be anywhere from 12% to 22% of their total sales. By looking at the market average we can see that with pharmaceutical companies it is a little different. It is apparent that selling, general and administrative includes the sum of all indirect and direct selling expenses but a valid question to ask management would be: Why is this number so high in comparison to the market average, and what can we do to lower this number? c. Will SciTronics continue to expand their fixed assets such as property and equipment? This is imperative to know because it will increase the value of the company in turn making it more financially stable. If need be, it could then use these assets as collateral towards loans. If SciTronics came to my bank and asked for a $126,000,000 loan to support their growth in business I would approve the loan because of careful examination of their financial statements including analyzing the profitability, leverage, activity, and liquidity ratios. (1) Profitability Measures Sales growth provides the company with a measure to determine how well their product is doing in the market. * During the four-year period ended December 31, 2008, SciTronics’ sales grew at a 20.69% compound rate. There were no acquisitions or divestitures. * SciTronics’ profit as a percentage of sales in 2008 was 5.74% * This 5.74% represented an increase from 3.40% in 2005. * SciTronics had a total of $159,000,000 of capital at year-end 2008 and earned, before interest but after taxes (EBIAT), $16,00,000. Its return on capital was 10% earned in 2008, which represented an increase from the 4% earned in 2005. * Scitronics has $75,000,000 of owner’s equity and earned $14,000,000 after taxes in 2008. Its ROE was 18.67%, which represented an improvement from the 8.20% earned in 2005. Figure A below: * This figure shows an initial decrease in the profit as a percentage of sales however are followed by a steep increase in 2008. Profitability is quite obviously very important to a company. It allows the company to have access to debt, have a proper valuation of the company’s common stock, the ability to finance its own programs, and the pervasiveness of management to issue stock. This is depicted in Figure A as an indefinite increase from 05-08. Figure A Figure B * Return on equity indicates how profitable SciTronics is utilizing shareholders’ funds. (Piper, 7) To shareholders of a company, this is equally as important as EBIAT. (2) Asset Management Measures A company must use Activity ratios to determine how well it is using its assets. If improper use of assets occurs there is a need for financing for the company. This is turn leads to more interest costs and also brings about lower return on capital. * Total asset turnover for SciTronics in  2008 can be calculated by dividing $244,000(net sales) into $159,000. The turnover deteriorated from 1.58 times in 2005 to 1.53 times in 2008 * SciTronics has $66,000 invested in accounts receivables at year-end 2008. Its average sales per day were $668.49 during 2008 and its average collection period was 98.73 days. This represented an improvement from the average collection period of 104.29 days in 2005. * SciTronics apparently needed $29,000 of inventory at year-end to support its operations during 2008. Its activity during 2008 measured by the COGS was $74,000. It therefore had an inventory turnover of 2.55 times. This represents an improvement from 2.05 times in 2005. * SciTronics had net fixed assets of $18,000 and sales of $244,000 in 2008. Its fixed asset turnover ratio in 2008 was 13.56 times, and deterioration from 16.33 times in 2005. Figure C * As seen in Figure C, there is an improvement in inventory turnover from 2.05 in 2005 to 2.55 in 2008. This is very important because this indicates to the company its effectiveness with which the company uses its inventory. (Piper, 8) (3) Leverage and Liquidity Measures The different types of leverage ratios measure the relationship of funds supplies by creditors to the funds supplies by the owners of the company. Return of equity will improve when the use of borrowed funds from creditors or owners is appropriated correctly. * SciTronic’s ratio of total assets divided by OE increased from 1.52 at year-end to 2.12 at year-end 2008. * At year-end 2008, SciTronic’s total liabilities were 34.41% of its total assets, which compares with 32.41% in 2005. * The market value of SciTronic’s equity was $175,000,000 at Dec 31, 2008. The total debt ratio at market was 32.43%. * SciTronic’s earning before interest and taxes (Operating income) were $26,000,000 in 2008 and its interest charges were $2,000,000. It’s times interest earned been 13 times. This represented an improvement from the 2005 level of 10 times. * SciTronics owed its suppliers $6,000,000 at year-end 2008. This represented 8.11% of COGS and was a decrease from the ratio of 11.63%  year-end 2005. * The financial riskiness of SciTronics decreased between 2005 and 2008. Liquidity ratios measure a company’s ability to meet financial obligations as they become current. (Piper, 10) * SciTronics held $133,000,000 of current assets at year-end 2008 and owed $48,000,000 to creditors, due to be paid within one year. SciTronics’ current ratio was 2.77, a decrease from the ratio of 3.90 at year-end 2005. * The quick ratio for SciTronics at Year-end 2008 was 2.17, a decrease from the ratio of 2.90 at year-end 2005. Figure D * This figure depicts an increasing level of financial leverage. In this figure total assets divide total liabilities. We can see that financial leverage increased throughout the years until 2008. Figure D Work Cited Piper, Thomas. Assessing a Company’s Future Financial Health. 911th ed. Vol. 9. Boston, MA.: Harvard Business Review, 2012. Print. Ser. 412.

A mobile application tool, which uses persuasive design to encourage Essay

A mobile application tool, which uses persuasive design to encourage young adults to make healthier food alternatives - Essay Example Then the results from the theoretical user requirements with the practical user requirements are collated to gain a list of specific user requirements. A meeting was organized with the head of Villiers High School’s Sixth Form. A presentation of the data was initiated. In this case, a quick overview of the project was explained. Again, the involvement of each student was explained. After this was done, students received an email from their head to inform them of a study taking place. The email notification explains to the students how it would be a great opportunity for them to get involved, given the limited number of students required for the study (Babbie, 2010). The study only required twenty students to act as the respondents. Having received a high level of interest from the students, the head of Villiers High School 6th Form granted them permission. The project overview was structured to be presented at the sixth formers’ assembly on Monday, the 17th day of November 2012. Having been allowed to visit the school, there has been the case of walking in sessions. In this case, students have the freedom to ask the researcher any questions regarding their involvement. Visiting the students within their playground has also been a good way of gaining their participation interest. I could also gain their interests by visiting them in the classes and their scheduled walk. These scheduled walks are usually in sessions, which take place on Thursdays and Fridays, and specifically during lunchtime. In such cases, open discussions and one-to-one sessions about the project are conferred. From such efforts, it was possible to recruit up to 20 students from which I was able to start the project. A team of 20 students was perfect for the project. These 20 students were informed everything to do with their roles. They were issued with conse nt forms after which they were explained about their involvement rights.

American Music History Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

American Music History - Assignment Example Hence, Jazz music was established by African American slaves who were prohibited from maintaining their indigenous musical traditions, and this made them feel the need to substitute some home-made form of musical expression. In relation to that, we can depict that the white were not ready to be associated with jazz music since they perceive jazz music as an African American art and not of the white. However, some conservative white and black Americans did not approve of jazz music. For instances, some conservative white did not approve of jazz music since they perceive jazz as a black American music. Jazz music features the black American experience over conservative white insensibilities that made them exploit the black American. This made Lois to say that some conservative white like did not approve of jazz music since â€Å"Jazz music created a sense of identity, originality, and social cohesion among black musicians† (Lois L.pg .9). I prefer this quotation it has helped me to illustrate how the Whites failed to acknowledge black-Americans music since they repudiated to equate anything valuable with black Americans. Subsequently, some conservative black-Americans did not approve of jazz music due to the social stigma associated with the music. For instance, â€Å"Jazz Must Go,† was the heading of a critique published in 1921 by one journal in America (Scaruffi, P. pg. 103). I prefer this quotation as it has helped me portray how stigma formed an environment for black mistreatment since jazz was considered black folk music. The University of Chicago Library. "Chicago, Jazz, and the Great Migration." The University of Chicago Library. N.p.,  2012. Web. 27  May  2015. Retrieved from

Would you have signed the Constitution of 1787 Essay

Would you have signed the Constitution of 1787 - Essay Example purposes of the Constitution is posted at the exact beginning of the document, stating, â€Å"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity [†¦].† That in itself is a set of rules that the government can follow. It lists aspects that they should be aware of when they make decisions, and the people that should be considered during the decision-making process. The Constitution of 1787, as opposed to any other government-based documents, is the best plan for the government because it focuses on the more important aspects of the government system itself. The important positions are pointed out, as well as their tasks and duties. There are numerous positions in the government, each with varying jobs and tasks. The Constitution helps to keep people on track with what they need to be doing. It goes into heavy detail about what a member can or cannot do, as well as the specifics of each branch. This document is perfect for the government as it can keep things from going completely out of control, and it centers in on the things that are most important to the people. The Constitution also goes into the process by which a bill is considered, created, and enforced, which most definitely proves helpful when large groups of people are at ends with what to do. There are other â€Å"how-to† instructions in the Constitution, adding further to the fact that the Constitution can be viewed as appropriate guidelines for running a stable government. How one votes and how someone is chosen for a specific job is also mentioned throughout the document. The Constitution is the perfect set of guidelines to be looked at for any government system, really. It is something that really suits the workings of the United States of America. However, if I were around during the signing of it, I

Infantilization of women in advertising Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Infantilization of women in advertising - Essay Example This essay "Infantilization of women in advertising" outlines the reasons for infantilization of females in commercials and how it affect the perception of women id advertisement. Infantilization is not a new concept but has been in existence for quite a long time. Many advertisers edit or sexualize bodies of younger girls and use them for advertisements. An example of female infantilization is the assumptions that beauty entails getting younger. Most advertisements make this assumption when they use exaggerated pictures of young girls when advertising beauty products. They thus use images of young girls or those of women but with childish behaviors (Wade Web). The women are postured in childish ways with empty stares, hands in mouth, or adopting seductive postures. Additionally, the skin texture is exaggerated. The postures make women appear submissive and not in control of their lives. The advertisements appear to be creating children out of women. This is contrary to the upright w ay men are postured demonstrating adulthood and being in control (Carlson 2-4). The erroneous infantilization defines women as weak and unintelligent. This is a block to celebration of femininity. Instead of encouraging girls to grow into strong women, advertisement in magazines and other media inspire girls to develop into women with childishness. Some advertisements appear to be inspiring women to act like children to be considered feminine and sexy. The antifeminist image below from maxim is an example of such appeals.

Advertisement and marketing communication Essay

Advertisement and marketing communication - Essay Example The new economy has brought success to e-bay and other organizations that use technology to apply marketing concepts like customer focus, good value, quality service and efficient exchange mechanisms for satisfying customer needs and wants. Basically marketing deals with identifying and meeting human and social needs. One of the shortest definitions of marketing is "meeting needs profitably (Kotler, 2003). Whether the marketer is Procter & Gamble, which created crest white strips in response to people's desire for whiter teeth; or Monster.com, which developed an online resume databank so job-hunters and employers can find each other more efficiently; or CarMax which invented a new way to sell used cars because people want more certainly when buying such vehicles, all illustrate a drive to turn a private or social need into a profitable business opportunity. Companies must carefully monitor their customers and competitors, continuously improve their value offerings, carefully define t he target market and value proposition, and take a long term view to satisfy customers, stockholders, employees, suppliers and channel partners. Modern marketing calls for more than developing a good product, pricing it attractively, and making it accessible. Companies must also communicate with present and potential stakeholders as well as general public. For companies it is not important to communicate but rather what to say, to whom and how often. The marketing communication mix consists of advertising, sales promotion, public relations and publicity, personal selling and direct marketing (Kolter, 1997). Advertising is any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, good or service by an identified sponsor. Ads are a cost effective way to disseminate message, whether to build brand preference. In developing an advertisement programme, marketing mangers start by identifying the target market and buyer motives. Then they make 5 critical decisions known as five M's i.e. Mission (objectives) Money, Message, Media & Measurement. An advertising objective is a specifics communication task and achievement level to the accomplished with a specific audience in a specific period. Advertising objectives can be classified according to whether their aim is to inform, persuade, remind or reinforce. The international charity recruiting business school playing the major role through providing students who are voluntarily help small business to grow in the developing market. We are required to show in the advertisement that it conveys goodwill and image of the organization. So this advertisement could be categorized as institutional advertisements, which advocates its act and show its pioneer work. To develop an effective advertisement one has to identify the target audience. Here we have an organization, which has some genuine motives. Our target audience is the people, who are young, willing to be the part of society and work for the betterment of the society, people and organizations. So seeing the target audience of the advertisement we selected red color, which, depicts vibrant, energetic and highly self-motivated nature of youth and this color attracts people immediately. Here picture is showing the two basic domain of people or society that is haves and have-nots. There is a path, which is very difficult, but it can take the people from the category of have-nots towards who have. In between the path there are lots of roadblocks and potholes, which makes journey very difficult but our business school graduates have the capacity to make the transition mu ch easier and he/she is right there to help voluntarily. Specifying the objective of the message plays a crucial role in deciding the nature. Simple and humorous massages which could be able to convey the message effectively will play the trick. It's an advertisement about voluntary service so it must contain some motivating message, which could easily attract