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.
Important industries are advanced manufacturing, life sciences, technology, tourism and healthcare.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
North Korea has not yet resumed issuing tourism visas to Chinese citizens, who once made up the bulk of its overseas visitors.
From Barron's ● Oct. 15, 2026
The grand prix is part of the country's wider strategy to increase tourism, international investment, services and entertainment, bringing more prospects to the country and further growing the overall GDP of the nation.
From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026
The park, in the Atlanta suburb of Austell, Ga., is “a significant part of our tourism landscape, drawing visitors from across our county, our state, and the Southeast,” Cupid wrote.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026
Private companies are working on different ideas, ranging from space tourism to mining on asteroids.
From "Women in Space" by Karen Bush Gibson
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
