Discuss the various purposes of Tourism.

Like any other human or economic activity, tourism has some definite purposes. Some important purposes of tourism are as follows:

Sun, Sea, Sand and Sex: 

In American parlance, it is known as the 4 `S’ formula. Sea bathing with access to a beach and good weather is an expectation of tourists who want to escape from temperate to tropical climates. The current health faddism and new fashion concepts also dictate the use for activity with Sun, Sea and Sand. To add more enjoyment this formula has been expanded to 4th S i.e. Sex.

Leisure, Touring, Sight-seeing and Culture: 

There are some tourists, who just like to wander. They are not content to remain in one place. They love to know about different countries, people, cultures and places. The motivation is both self-education and self-esteem. The camera is an essential ingredient of such kind of tourists. The destinations by such tourist are more varied and wide-spread than the 4S’ s.

Visiting Friends and Relations: 

This form is a strong motivation for domestic, tourism in India. This kind of tourism takes place in everybody’s and everyday life. For instance, a person can go.to Agra to visit one of his relative and he may get the opportunity to see the Taj. This segment of tourism is of great importance to the transport sector but not to hoteliers since most of the tourists stay and eat at their host’s place.

In India we see an interesting combination of VFR and LTC to subsidies the cost of transport and accommodation so that there will be enough money to spend on sight-seeing, leisure, recreation and shopping.

Business and Incentive Travel:

Business traveler’s, needs often overlap with those of the holiday maker. Generally, business trips are not directed towards tourist centers. There demand is directed to centers of trade and commerce. They may demand special services like communication and secretarial facilities, meeting and conventional facilities, car rental etc.

The needs for communication and specialization have led to annual meetings of association and professional bodies not only to meet and discuss new ideas and strategies but also to exhibit new products and new trends. Fairs and exhibitions are a reflection of the health of an economy, so a special area of interest to tourist destinations is conferences, fairs and exhibitions.

It also gives an opportunity to the participants to sample some of the local tourism offers. Incentive tourism is also gaining importance in this segment.