Conceptualizing “the Tourist”: A critical review of UNWTO definition

Abstract

The tourist is the heart and foundation of the tourism industry. However, when looking deeply at the analysis of the tourist in different fields (psychology, sociology, anthropology, geography, economy, etc.), no unanimous definition is approved. The present study aims at filling this gap by contributing to the debate of defining “the tourist”, by stepping into the different approaches covered in previous literature, as well as highlighting key concepts, such as the movement of people and the psychological subjective perceptions, that can play a crucial role in the contemporary conceptualization of the tourism industry