What makes specific countries successful as visit destinations, in an age of easier mobility, more financially able people looking for more kicks and when relative peace still rules over noisy geopolitics?
Physical tourism is enhanced by no entry visa fees, uniqueness of the destination, long standing welcoming reputation, good infrastructure, strategic locations, low cost of currency, appetising food and a variety of attractions.
Medical tourism venues are growing, due to the divergence in quality of care, level of fees charged and patients not being able to afford paying high charges in their country of origin.
Investment tourism has grown due to the greater ability to move huge sums of spare funds across borders by institutions, brokers, individuals and financial structures. These can be not necessarily legal, as long as the players at each stage of the process are willing to do so. Funds transferred usually move to accounts paying higher returns, are flexible or derive payback from properties. Individuals investing in such transactions can holiday in their properties overseas. They can make physical visits to islands of tax havens. Funds for investments no longer require to be in traditional forms.
Sentimental tourism arise upon cultural vibes arising from emigrants still having strong attachments to places where they were born in, or grew up in. These individuals no longer reside in the abode of their ethnicity - but are also financially able to spend on repeated visits to their country of origin, especially when they get older.
Examples of such diaspora are from the Anglo-Saxon culture, which has a wide choice of holidaying in Canada, New Zealand, USA, United Kingdom and Australia. Ever since China opened up in the 1990s and progressed especially in techology, economics, trade and finance,
the descendants of her past emigrants have been going back in droves to holiday in their perceived Motherland.
Family reunion tourism has spiked as a result of many adult young moving overseas to study and then settling in the foreign nation of their graduation. The migration of working age adults to other countries has caused empty nest syndromes in the abode of their parents. The airline, visa brokerage and tour agent sectors have vastly benefitted from these developments.
Economic tourism is my term involving people who enter foreign nations on a tourist visa, but continue to over stay by working illegally, even if under paid and not going back to their country of origin. Specific sectors thrive to use such individuals, especially in roles that others refuse fo undertake. Strictly speaking, such individuals are not tourists anymore but have used tourism to enter the foreign country and then make use of opportunities.
Another form of economic tourism occurs when individuals illegally set up a variety of low level businesses in a foreign nation to service fellow country men and women touring from overseas.
Prostitution tourism has been the bane of lesser developed economies when visitors are richer and tour another country for a variety of sex related transactions, including depraved acts that somehow miss the monitoring radar of authorities.
Military tourism has historically been a tradition since Roman Empire days. I recall Thailand being utilised for R and R during the heydays of the Vietnam War in the second half of the 20th century. Troops require relief and it does not take long to connect the points between military and prostitution tourism.
Influencer tourism arose on the heels of widening social media. The agendas of such individuals posting online vary, ranging from self glorification, promoting commercial products or services, personally fighting for ecological causes, sharing photography work or writing as authors of old used to do.
Retirement tourism focuses on the elderly moving to another place permanently or for part of the year. The impetus for doing so can be financial, economic, preference for another climate, varying costs of living, tax induced or having a partner or spouse who grew up in a different nation. Reasons are as diverse as the number of nationalities involved. Whether these foreign originated retirees mix with locals or just hang around their group of expats is another question.
Geopolitical tourism refers to some tourists continuing to tour selected countries primarily because of their strong convictions and belief in their preferred political systems.
Ecological tourism is growing due to the commitments of such tourists to taking more care of Nature and Earth.
Sports tourism has been popular with Europeans and Americans. The holding of more spectacular and successful events especially by FIFA, tennis Grand Slam tournaments and the Olympics come to mind, but more viable are the visits to foreign countries by tourists for social skiing, water sports and regularly held marathons. Access on television and other screens for sports like cricket, rugby, cycling and beach volleyball are not enough - enthisiasts need to be there, even if just as observers.
Religion linked tourism goes back for so long, whether fulfilling the Haj, completing the pilgrim's track to Jerusalem, or visiting Buddhist holy sites in northern India.
While tourists mostly inject spending into places in dire need of regular cash inflows, there can be a dark side when visitor numbers overwhelm the local demographics. There truly can be too much of a good thing.
Over populated numbers of tourists can result in lack of reasonable housing costs for residents. The strain of too many plane and ship arrivals has often unspoken challenges in environmental pollution, hyped up food prices and discrimination in treatment of tourists and locals.
It is never reliable to dominate your city or island's economy perilously dependant on tourism and its trappings. Pandemics like Covid 19 and outbreaks of war wipe out the ability of tourists to arrive. Rates of street crime and increased perceptions of personal danger can cause a dent into the presumed rising rates of arrivals. The attitude towards earth quake risk areas - even if otherwise busy vacation sites - can impact on tourist attractions.
Where cold climate seasons provide a reprieve for the locals from the hordes of tourists, it is a welcome break - for example, think of contemporary Xin Jiang, Scandinavia, Nepal, Canada, the Antarctic and the Tierra del Fuego. For other more benign climate territories, the disadvantages can be endless - I reflect on Spain, Thailand, southern China, Malaysia and Singapore.
The ugly face of unwanted tourism vibes to me is when I witness thousands of cruise ship passengers disembark from a giant liner at port. These passengers seem to be comparable to ants from floating versions of hives. Hordes have booked on ro a land based tour for the next eight hours after the cruise ship docks. And there are several cruise ships creating the buzz, the hype and the money.
Repeating visits to the same place can arouse the curiosity of some. Many families can check into the same hotel year after year to soak in a week or two of almost doing nothing, with meals arranged, children taken care of by hotel activities and having a new routine enjoying the sun. Some cities have transformed much within a short space of time, like in China. Others have not progressed much or even deteriorated.
The boom in travel has also ridden on the heels of foodie experiences. Hubs in cities like Barcelona, Melbourne, Tokyo, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Lisbon, Vienna, Milano and Palermo have created a buzz to visitors than just sight seeing.
Schoolie and sports related fan group heavy tourism, effused by energetic youth, can at times go out of control, creating shudders in the spines of police and local residents. They come at pre fixed times of the year.
Letting the hair down behaviour can also be witnessed during Halloween nights, eve of Christmas beaches, full moon nights on remote isles and narrow city lane celebrations. Such touristy actions can work against the basic principle for foreign visitors - foremost of all, to respect the place one is in.
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