THE COMPONENTS AND NATURE OF TOURISM

THE TOURISM MARKET BASKET OF GOODS AND

Jafar Jafari Dept. of Habitational Resources-Tourism University of Wisconsin-Stout

This paper will provide a background discussion on several basic aspects of tourism, based on an exam- ination of tourism as an industry and as a phenomenon. The focus of the discussion is on some of the con- stituent elements in tourism supply and tourism de- mand, and some peculiar elements and distinctive fea- tures of the tourism phenomenon which may have result- ed in the underdeveloped tourism discipline.

Due to the complexity involved in the study of tourism, the subject matter is treated in a special way; First, tourism is viewed from a small window and only the most comnon aspects of it are illustrated. Later, the scope is gradually broadened and new ele- ments which have made the tourism phenomenon complex and unusual are brought into the picture.

A. TOURISTS, TOURISM PRODUCTS, AND THE TOURISM IN- DUSTRY

Tourists are a temporary exodus population who trave~mally predetermined destinations, dis- regarding the purpose of their trips, they consume the tourism products while travelling, and return home after a short period, regardless of achieving the satisfaction or purpose envisaged in their trips.*

Tourism Products are the goods and services consumed by tourists while away from home.

Tourism Industry deals, for the most part, with the consumer-tourists, the money that they spent, the people, and the means which provide them with goods and services.

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The tourism industry, for the purpose of analogy, may be likened to a market basket of goods. When a tourist travels he is actually selecting a local mar- ket basket of goods and services related to the dest- ination. The quality and quantity of the basket se- lected is, however, a matter of the financial resour- ces, interest, and background of the consumer-tourist.

To facilitate the discussion on tourism products and phenomenon, the analogy of market basket of goods and services is utilized below. The basket may be considered in two parts, the Contents and the Basket itself.

B. CONTENTS OF THE BASKET

The great varieties of goods and services demand- ed and consumed by the tourists while away from home comprises the contents of the basket. From a product- ion point of view and for the purpose of this study, the products may be divided into two groups: the tourism oriented products (TOPS) and resident ori- ented products (ROPs). The word "product" in TOPS and ROPs includes not only the tourism goods produced but also the services rendered to the tourists.

1. Tourism Oriented Products (TOPS)

This group encompasses all economic activities related to the tourism industry. They are goods and services which are produced primarily for the consump- tion of tourists or non-residents and generally speak- ing direct economic return envisioned in the production of these goods and services.

The producers of these goods and services may catagorically be divided into the following groups: Accommodations, Food Service, Transportation, Travel Agencies, and Other Travel Trade Services.

As can be seen in the above examples, there are recognizable sectoral tourism products (STPs) which

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have grown to an enormous size.and are freely referred to as industries in themselves. Thus, for example, some of the biggest STPs are the Accommodation In- dustry, the Transportation Industry, and the like. In other words, TOPS are comprised of the STP in- dustries. For the purpose of demonstration, TOPS= STPl + STPZ + STP3......+ STPn.

2. Resident Oriented Products (ROPs) _

The goods and services in this group, in contrast to TOP goods and services, are produced primarily for the consumption and use of inhabitants in a tourism destination. This group covers almost all other eco- nomic activities and functions of governmental agen- cies, a catagorization of which will not serve any purpose in this study. Some examples of the ROPs are the infrastructure, police force, hospitals, book- stores, barbershops, to name a few. These goods and services are generally of incidental use to tourists because they exist anyhow to serve the expanding needs of the community. The industry, however, can not function with the tourism oriented products alone and the supplementation of the resident oriented products is obvious, to the extent that the inferjor quality of ROPs can reduce the "tourismagnetism" of a desti- nation as is the case in developing countries.

An explaination of the reason for the above divi- sion of goods and services into TOPS and ROPs is in order. The purpose here is not to draw a distinctive line between the groups, especially since the pro- duction of both TOPS and ROPs are interwoven and the products may be consumed by both tourists and the residents. The purpose, however, is to facilitate envisioning a mental picture of the contents of the basket and that there are indeed, differing from dest- ination to destination, certain products which are produced with t e tourists, and others with the resi- dents, in mind. 8

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3. Gross Tourism Products (GTPs)

This group of products, the gross tourism pro- ducts (GTPs), covers the broadest scope of goods services that tourists need while away from home .

and It

includes both the tourism oriented products (TOPS) and the resident oriented products (ROPs). In other words, GTPs = TOPS + ROPs, with the common character- istic that they can be consumed and utilized by tour- ists.

The gross tourism-products are produced from a combination of both private and government (public) investments. The proportions depend on the national economic system, economic ability of the private sec- tors, and the tourism trends to that particular coun- try. Normally, the private sectors invest in the TOPS such as accommodation, restaurants, etc., which are profit making activities. The government under- takes those inveqtments in ROP sector which have public investment characteristics, e.g., infrastructure, communication, police services, etc., which facilitate the private profit making activities but may not be operated by profit making enterprises themselves.

The division of responsibility is not however rigid. On the one hand, depending on the situation, government may invest in TOP, opening hotels and re- sort facilities, etc. On the other hand, the private sector may invest in goods and services which have ROP characteristics, roads le ding to resort areas, transportation services, etc. 8

C. THE BASKET ITSELF

Carrying the same analogy, the tourism market basket of goods and services, the basket itself is the container of the gross tourism products, contents of the basket. There are various elements which are assumed in manufacturing the basket itself. These elements, generally speaking, are the so called

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"attractions" of a destination. They are usually the geographically, meterologically, socially, or culturally formed elements which create tourismag- netic atmosphere. The attractions, regardless of their nature, hereafter are referred to as the back- ground tourism elements (BTEs). The background tourism elements may be divided into three groups:

1. Natural 2. Socio-cultural 3. Man-made

The natural BTEs are all the natural resources lumped together: Oceans, seas, lakes and all other water frontiers, the weather and sunshine, hills, valleys, caves and all other kinds of natural and scenic beauties.

The second group of BTEs engulfs all socio- cultural atmospheres or activities. Some examples of these elements are history, religion, tradition, cul- ture, politics, and all the activities, ceremonies, and celebrations related to these tourismagnetic BTEs.

In the last group, the man-made background tour- ism elements, are such attractions as historical buildings, monumental symbols, religious buildings and shrines, traditional or even the modern archi- tectrual buildings.

A study of the BTEs in the second and third groups reveals that there is an ostentatious similar- ity among the elements: The socio-cultural BTEs have a counterpart in the man-made group. For ex- ample, the counterparts of history, religion, and politics and government are historical buildings and monuments, religious buildings and shrines, and political and governmental buildings, respectively. In other words, for each element in the second group, there is a three dimensional representation in the third group.

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Moreover, a second glance at all three groups reveals that the elements in one and/or two groups have influenced the elements in the third one. For example, the architectual expressions are a repre- sentation of the potentials and limitations of the natural and socio-cultural background tourism elements, captured in the man-made creations. They are "trans- formed into a permanent three-dimensional object whose characteristics are conditioned by the limit- ations, restrictions and requirements of the community itselfland thus are a symboliclphysical expressio of CUltUre[and alcultural expression of nations. 12

They are the tangible manifestations of the natural and socio-cultural background tourism elements.

By the same token, the inhabitants of many countries are still a living symbol of all the ele- ments that have made up their history and habitat: They are a modern representation of their past. They too are conditioned by the various natural and socio-cultural limitations, restrictions and short- comings or potentials, captured in the webs of their social fabrics.

These elements (all three groups) give, on one hand, "characteristics", "flavor", "personality", "essence", "brand", etc. to the tourism oriented products, in particular, and to the gross tourism products, in general. On the other hand, they uniquely dress-up a country's setting and create a tourismagnetic atmosphere. Thus, the background tourism elements are the hidden substances of the tourism industry which shape the "manner" or "state" of the gross tourism products (TOP in particular) and dominate the market by spraying and perfuming the atmosphere with exotic fragrances. However, there has to be a tourism demand for the elements to become background tourism elements and for the country's tourism market basket of goods and ser- vices to become a tourismagnetic destination,

The background tourism elements of one country may vary considerably with the background tourism

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elements of another country, whether they are compared singularly or in the aggregate with their counterparts. Nevertheless, they have a common feature which distin- guishes then from GTPs (the contents of the basket).

Generally speaking, the background tourism ele- ments are not, in contrast to goods and services in the usual sense, being produced or provided. They are "free goods" (supply), almost as plentiful as sunshine. There is no bottleneck in the foreseeable future. They are not, it is important to note, trans- ferable, i.e., shipment cannot be made. What makes the elements economic supply or "goods" is the fact that people (tourists) give up something, money and time, to be in the tourismagnetic atmosphere the ele- ments have created. These elements are a "gift" of God (natural prospects) and an inheritage from an- cestors (history and tradition evolved to today's stage.) In other words, they are locally inherited socio-geographical background tourism elements.

Within the background tourism elements are goods and services. This involves investment or expendi- ture which would create, facilitate, or provide opportunities for tourists to "reach", "touch", "ob- serve", or "feel" the tourismagnetic atmosphere. The goods and services thus provided should be con- sidered as part of the tourism oriented products (TOPS), the provision of which would intensify only the degree of tourismagnetism in the elements and the country.

Therefore, the basket and its contents are a com- plex mixture of products (TOPS and ROPs), in the nor- mal sense. The locally inherited socio-geographical background tourism elements which charactertze or dress up the tourism market basket of goods and ser- vices make the purchase of the basket a qualitative, rather than quantative measurement. As a result, to emphasize the importance of the background tourism elements, it may be stated that they are the found- ation of the tourism industry. They are the reason

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for which the consumer-tourists travel, and the con- tents of the basket (GTPs) comprise only those of incidental value or interest to the tourists.

As was noted earlier, the tourism market bas- ket of goods and services of each destination is entirely different from any other basket. This is especially due to the discriminative qualitative value judgement of the tourist towards the basket itself (the background tourism elements), and also the quality and quantity of the contents of the basket. However, the packaging of the basket can be improved by the "manufacturing", "shaping" and promotional philosophies or standards of the tour- ism organizations. They are in position to put a mark of excellence on their tourism basket.

The purchase and "consumption" of any tourism market basket of goods and services results in the so called tourism experience. It is the "single product" of the tourism industry which is a collect- ive mental impression of the destination. It is the quality of this single tourism product which determines if a consumer would buy the same basket again, or travel to the same destination again. In other words, it is the quality of this product which keeps a destination a tourismagnetic one. The tourism experience is further discussed in part D5, below.

This is a profound aspect in the tourism phe- nomenon and thus a difficult matter to understand since it is different from any other economic and social concept.

The above discussion on the tourism market basket of goods and services or a tourismagnetic atmosphere may be briefly stated as the summation of the gross tourism products GTPs = [TOPS = (STPl + STP2 . ..STPn) + ROPs], wrapped in the fabric made of locally inherited socio-geographical background tourism elements, shaped and handled according to the standards (or lack of standards) set by the

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trade mark unions (the national tourism organi- zations and associations). The purchase of this sample tourism basket of a country results in a collective mental picture of the destination, the tourism experience, which, like other products, can have a poor to rich quality.

D. OTHER PECULIARITIES IN TOURISM

On the one hand, tourism is an economic acti- vity or industry and the "same economic facts and laws can be applied in this as in other industries."7 From the international point of view, its product "is a service or, in other words, an invisible commodity that must be exchanged or market d

5 in the

same way as the products of other trades." On the other hand, in many respects, and taking into con- sideration the above discussion on the characterized tourism market basket of goods and services, there are several peculiarities in the tourism production- consumption circuit which point up further sing ar- ity when compared to other economic activities. vi

1. Market Differentiation and Monopolistic Elements

Each tourist destination has a monopoly over its own characterized tourism basket of goods and services and no other market can supply precisely the same characterized basket. For example, the, characterized tourism market basket of goods and services in the Israeli tourism market is in no way comparable to those in the Tunisian and Mexican ones. The point here is not, by any means, which of the host countries are offering the best basket and are tourismagnetically more appealing. The point is, rather, that each country's market is offering an entirely different kind of basket (atmosphere) which are characterized by the locally inherited socio-geographical back- ground tourism elements, unique to each destination, and the copy of which in another destination would not create a second Israel, Tunisia, or Mexico.

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To demonstrate this phenomenon in tourism, it is impossible,for example, to "remove" or "copy" the history and religious inclinations of the Holy Land, among many of the other background tourism elements, which have unmistakably characterized the Israeli tourism market. Therefore, due to this market differientiation, Israel has a monopoly over her tourism product, Tunisia over the Tunisian pro- duct, and Mexico over the Mexican product. But, as it has been experienced, unauthentic tourism markets can be created. This kind of market differentiation seems to be unique to the tourism phenomenon since most other commodities could be produced in many markets.

2. Non-Economic Value Judgement

Moreover, the choice of, for example, the Israeli characterized tourism basket of goods and services instead of the Tunisian tourism basket, or visa versa, cannot all be due, as was touched upon earlier, to economic considerations. It may be true that the prices of the GTPs (contents of the basket) in these two countries are not far apart, but it is not the purchasing power and economic position of the tourist- consumers which is the only deciding factor.

From the consumers point of view, it is difficult to set a price on the real purchase-value of the char- acterized tourism market basket of goods and services which is personalized by one or more of the locally inherited socio-geographical background tourism ele- ments that is of interest to tourists in the chosen market. This could be a change of air, a change of pace, meeting people within their indigenous tradition and culture, visiting historical and religious places, and the like. It is only the consumers, the tourists, who can set a monetary value upon the basket. 'In other words, in the purchase of a characterized mar- ket basket by a tourist, "there is a very substantial element of personal and emotional satisfaction. The price the consumer agrees to pay is measured by him not only according to the personal satisfaction he

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hopes to derive from a series of more or less emotional experiences, a series of intangible satisfactions the enjoyment of which is as a rule completely free, or costs very little in relation to the total purchase price."11 , paid mainly on purchase of GTPs (contents of the basket) it is simply a qualitative measurement from the individual consumer's (tourist's) point of view.

3. On-The-Spot Market

Consider the operation of a car manufacturing factory, for example, which has to ship the final pro- ducts to several predetermined markets for sale. The shipment would usually tend to be more difficult if the products have to cross national boundaries. This difficulty may, however, be reduced when two or more nations have bilateral or multi-lateral trade agree- ments. Almost all trades function within the above framework and almost all must be physically shipped to another market for sale and consumption.

Tourism is, however, an industry which does not have the above situation. The production, purchase, most of the consumption of gross tourism products, - on one hand, and getting a "feeling" of the back- ground tourism elements, on the other hand, has to take place in the destination which distinquishes the tourism market basket of goods and services. Its market is "superimposed on pre-existing economic and social a

T5 angements in a way that industrialization

is not." Thus, the consumer (tourist), 'nstead of the basket, has to be moved to the market. 3 However, 1

the consumption cannot normally take place, in con- trast to usual goods and services, unless the consumers have both ability to pay the costs and opportunity to spare the time required to become a tourist. In the case of normal goods and services, the financial abil- ity is usually the main deciding factor.

4. Perishable Products

The production of the tourism oriented products

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means provision of many different kinds of goods and services, provided for the tourists' consumption. They are, for example, provision of transportation services, accommodation, meals, entertainment, and the like. Though the diversity of the products falls within a vast scope of economic activities, they all share one characteristic 'n common:

14 "none of the

services can be stored". This "perishability" of tourism products can be observed from two angles, the production and the consumption point of view.

On the one hand, from the production point of view, most of the products in the normal sense, such as a radio or refrigerator, can be produced and stored, awaiting future sale. If the radio or the refriger- ator are not sold today, the opportunity may come tomorrow. However, this phenomenon is not true with most of the tourism products. "There is a sense of immediacy about services. Unlike goods which when manufactured can be stored and are therefore pro- duced in anticipation of demand, services usually have to be consumed when they are produced. The of production and consumption are often linked."' !

ct

Thus, the space and facilities provided in a guest- room, a TOP, for instance, has to be rented (sold) every night. If a room goes unrented for one night, the opportunity is gone and the "time related" pro- duct is wasted. The same room, however, can be rented the night after. But it is not the same "pro- duct" or opportunity anymore. The latter time re- lated product is analogous to a second radio or re- frigerator sold. Therefore, the production and consumption of most of the tourism products are mea- sured by time-units.

Another illustration, most of other enterprises can stockpile, the automobile not sold today may be available for sale in future. “If the auto manu- facturer operated in the airline environment, he would have to scrap every auto not sold as it came off the assembly line. The analogy is not as ex- treme as it sounds. When the door closes on a CP

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Air DC-8 at Edmonton destined for Amsterdam, every two rows of economy seats are equal to the price of a compact car. So every six empty seats would be equivalent to a car manufacturer auto if there were not a buyer."l 8

crapping a compact

5. Tourism Experience

On the other hand, from the consumption point of view, a radio or refrigerator or other durable consumption goods can be bought and stored. They provide services over an extended period. Moreover, when the time comes to replace them with new models, for example, they still have some residual values. However, the situation is not the same when the pur- chase of tourism products is considered. When a tourist is travelling he buys and "consumes", on-the- spot, several kinds of tourism products such as transportation, accommodation, entrance fees to tourist sites and the like. They are all a kind of perishable product which cannot, with the exception of souveniers, be preserved or saved for his future consumption. The only "durable" or "residual" part in tourism is the psychic satisfaction or the experi- ence which is induced from the locally inherited socio-geographical BTEs, consumption of the charact- erized GTP goods and services, and the way the bas- ket is presented and handled. However, it should be pointed out that the residual part is a "retrieveable tourism product" since it can be "reused" or remem- bered after the trip is over. Moreover, the retriev- able tourism product has, similar to usual products, . both "appreciative" and "depreciative" properties.

6. Inapplicability of Diminishing Marginal Utility

The law of diminishing marginal utility is as- sumed to operate when buying additional quantities of the same products; the marginal satisfaction starts to decrease with the purchase of additional units. This may, particularly, be experienced

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when additional amounts of primary products such as food are bought. This is also true when "use- ful but inessential" semiluxury products are pur- chased. The latter products may, for example, be a car, radio, television, washing machine, and the like, the purchase of one or two units of which would satisfy the wants of consumers. There is a satiable nature for consumption of these products.

However, the purchase and consumption of tourism products does not follow the so called "law" of dimin- ishing marginal utility. "Travel is the kind of arti- cle t

8 appetite for which is stimulated by consumpt-

ion." In other words, "each purchase seems to whet the appetite for more, and because of the variety of travel buys offered, anything but temporary sa 's- faction of travel wants seems to be unlikely." !8

IN SUMMARY, the above discussion depicts only some observations and notes about the peculiarity and uniqueness of the tourism industry and its products. When studying tourism in its broad GTP dimension, it does not seem to be, due to the enormous variety of the goods and services in the basket, an integrated industry in the usual sense. It is not a clear-cut industry, as one may think of agriculture or the oil industry. Tourism permeates, due to its nature, many economic activities and utilizes goods and ser- vices from many industries to fill the basket.

Moreover, as it was noted earlier, the contents of the basket are of incidental value to tourists. It is the tourismagnetism of BTEs which has generated the demand for, and the catalytic action of the BTEs which has resulted in the formation of, the tourism industry.

As a result, this enormous scope of the gross tourism products has made its dimension extremely broad and its boundaries unidentifiable. More so, the invisible and basic input of the BTEs in develop- ing and molding the tourism industry has made tourism

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dissimilar from any established industry or discip- line. It appears that the magnitude, dissimilarity and uniqueness have made a meaningful approach to the definition and study of the tourism phenomenon a neglected and, thus, underdeveloped field. The layman's misconception of "travel" and the "travel industry" has deterred any meaningfulness in the study of tourism. The way tourism is understood to- day, it seems to be so complex that it is hard to ask the right question, much less come up with the right answer. One of the disturbing dimensions the toursim industry faces today, as it is suggested to be the case in some other disciplines, is its dearth of knowledge. It is not what we know about toursim, but rather what we do not know about it that must be of primary concern. There is a definite need to improve not only the tourism "know-how", but also the tourism "know-why". The latter, which has been unquestionably neglected, disputes any unscientific and unreasonable assumptions that are made in the foundation and procedures of the study of tourism. This may once again suggest why tourism, despite its socio-economic magnitude, has remained underdeveloped and unnoticed.

Tourism can not succeed in becoming a field of study by using the past interpretations. The mis- conception and confusion about the definition of tourism or the tourism idustry has done much to pre- clude its growth at both academic and non-academic levels. It is now time to suggest and consider an innovative approach, to define the study of tourism. This may mean changing the name to justify the end, as it has been demostrated in similar situations. "Peregrinology" (coined from Latin, peregrinatiu: to travel), can be the concentration which would address itself to the study of tourism as a socio-economic discipline. Peregrinology is not meant to be a new name for the sake of change - it is an approach that contains and will inaugurate a neoteric thrust to the study of toursim. n

Footnotes on pages 88-89.

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I FOOTNOTES I

(1) This article is a revised section of the author's thesis: Jafar Jafari, Role of Tourism on the Socio- Economic Transformation of Developinq Countries, a master's thesis submitted to the faculty of the Grad- uate School of Cornell University, 1973. 262 pages. Copies of the thesis may be obtained by forwarding $15 to this magazine. The revision was specifically provided for publication in the Annals of Tourism Research. (2) For an elaborate and precise definition of 'Itour- ist" (who is and is not a tourist) check with the IUOTO sources. (3) To facilitate flexibility in discussion, the destination which possess attractive tourism atmosphere, tourism assets, elements, or general tourism potentials are referred to as tourismapnetic destinations. (4) It is understood that there could be many units in each STP which are not established for tourists and cater to residents, e.g., a restaurant that serves * mainly local people. However, the units in each STP, regardless of their purpose of establishment, are more and more controlled by the tourism organizations or tourism oriented organizations and associations. Notwithstanding, for the purpose of this discussion, no attempt is made to broaden the discussion from this point of view. If the reader wishes, he may consider these units (goods and services) as part of the ROPs. (5) See "The Role of the State in Tourism" in this issue of the Annals. (6) Ricardo Anzola-Betancourt, "An Architectual Approach to Tourism in the Caribbean", address to the First Special Inter-American Travel Congress, August 1972, OEA (Organization of American States, OAS), Ser. K/III, Turismo/5, 22 June 1972, pp. 13-15 (7) Lickorish, L.J. and Kershaw, A.G., The Travel Trade. London: Practical Press Ltd., 1958, p. 105.

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(8) Invisible commodities or trades (in contrast to physical commodities or trades) are, for example, banking, insurance, transportation services, and toursim. (9) Lickorish-Kershaw, op. cit., p. 87

(10) Some of these additional perculiarities could have been fully discussed in part C. However, to facilitate the discussion, they are presented seperately in this part. (11) Lickorish-Kershaw, op. cit., p. 106. (12) Greenwood, David J., "Tourism as an Aqent of Change: A Spanish Basque Case", Ethnology; Volume XI, No. 1, January 1972, D. 87. (13) Peters, Michaei,' International Tourism, The Economics and Development of International Tourist Trade. London: Huchison & Co. (Publishers) Ltd., 1969, p. 131. (14) Lickorish-Kershaw, op. cit., p. 106. This char- acteristic, the perishability, is, however, a common factor among all the products in all the service in- dustries. It may have, conjecturally, a broader no- ticeable influence on the major STPs. (15) Organization for Economic Co-operation and De- velopment (OECD), Manpower Problems in the Service Industry, International Seminars 1966-2, Pari'n67, p. 22 (16) Main, Hugh B..Assis&ant V. P., Canadian Pacific Airlines, "CAT in the Jet '70's", Proceedings Eleventh Annual Conference, Travel Research Inc, August 1971, p. 193 (17) Lickorish-Kershaw, op. cit., p. 106 (18) Ibid., p. 89

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