Tourism

Let's start with the basics. A leisure activity is anything you do for enjoyment in your free time — going to the cinema, playing football, scrolling your phone. Tourism is a specific type of leisure: it's when you travel away from home to another destination for more than 24 hours but less than a year. Go for less than a day and you're just "visiting." Move somewhere permanently and that's migration, not tourism.

Domestic vs International

This distinction is simple but easy to mix up in an exam:

• Domestic tourism — travelling within your own country (a Londoner visiting Cornwall).
• International tourism — travelling to another country (a Londoner visiting Cyprus).

Why is tourism a form of "circular migration"?

Migration normally implies a permanent move. Tourism doesn't — you go, and you come back. That's the "circular" bit: it's a loop, not a one-way trip. The chapter gives you four types of circular migrant worth remembering, because examiners like specific examples:

• Seasonal workers — e.g. someone who works a ski season in the Alps, then goes home when it ends.
• Students — travel to university, then return home at the end of term.
• Medical tourists — travel abroad temporarily for treatment (often cheaper or higher-quality care elsewhere).
• Sports tourists — travelling to compete in or watch international competitions (the Olympics, World Cup).

Why has tourism grown so much?

This is one of the most commonly examined lists in the whole chapter — you should be able to explain why each factor matters, not just list it:

• Better pay & leave benefits — most people now work under 40 hours a week and get paid annual leave, so they actually have time and money to travel.
• Increased disposable income — with more dual-income households, families have more spare cash left over after essentials, which often goes toward holidays.
• Easier border crossings
• Faster, cheaper transport