Tourism as an Intensifier of National Economy

Abstract

Grounding of research. Tourism is determined as travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organisation (WTO) defines tourists as people “travelling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes” (UNWTO Technical Manual, 1995). Nowadays tourism is perceived as a mass phenomenon of the contemporary life, penetrating all spheres of it, capable of changing the economic, social and cultural environment and surrounding world. Today the concept of tourism is much wider than the above presented definition. Practically it is a global aggregate of relations and unity of connections and events following the tourist in his/her travel. Research problems. Tourism acts as a social-economic development of the catalyst, so important for the development of this activity. The article also deals with the use of modern technology, the analysis of economic and social indicators. The aim of research was to analyse the functioning of the tourism as an industry of national economy. Research methods. The article employed theoretical analysis, synthesis and secondary statistical analysis method. The work analyzed the statistics of the development of the tourism sector provided by the World Tourism Organization. Conclusions. Tourism combines economic, social, educational, cultural, aesthetic factors. Tourism is subjected to influence from political and economic situation, it depends on such factors as fashion and advertisement, which determine the demand for tourism via impact on population needs, interests, spirit, forming human habits and priorities. The innovations in the field of tourism have a particularly important role for the economic development of the country. Tourism companies in the market economy are increasingly recognising the need for developing new products and services capable of generating additional economic benefits. The development and accordingly the return on tourism greatly depend on the level of economic development of the country and on the willingness of government to heavily invest in this industry.

Keywords: tourism industry, international tourism, economic development, revenue.