noun
Etymology
Origin of tourism
Explanation
Tourism is the travel business — it caters to people who are visiting a place. Tourism turns a destination into a vacation spot. Tourism is also a word for the act of traveling, especially abroad. Fanny packs are not required. If you’re visiting a new place, stop by the office of tourism and they’ll give you the lowdown on the local hotspots. If you’ve visited somewhere because it has beautiful sights, great museums, or interesting history, you were a tourist. Tourism is the business that makes money from tourists. As the word implies, tourism often involves actual tours, which could be on foot, in a bus, or even on the back of a llama.
Vocabulary lists containing tourism
The United States
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Eastern Europe - Introductory
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Pacific Islands - Introductory
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
It’s that Saudi Arabia has spent hundreds of billions of dollars on its expansion into green energy, manufacturing, artificial intelligence and service industries, including tourism and hospitality, in anticipation of a post-fossil-fuel world.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 16, 2026
The tourism industry depends on the fauna not only remaining abundant, but tolerant of human presence.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 13, 2026
"The fact that there is a border between us is ridiculous," says Chotrani, who has a job in human resources in a Gibraltarian shipping and tourism company.
From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026
Last year, the number of international tourists went down by 5.5% from the year before, marking the first time tourism had fallen since the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2026
It’s mostly in Spanish, but I can tell from the pictures and the title that it has something to do with agricultural tourism in Puerto Rico.
From "Marcus Vega Doesn't Speak Spanish" by Pablo Cartaya
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
