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.
The Faroese are proud, protective and impervious to critics—and currently experiencing a tourism boom.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026
They say they are driven by Vietnam’s booming tourism and export industries, and a deep curiosity about the outside world.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 5, 2026
"Panag-aapoy is a sacred cultural tradition, NOT a festival or a tourism event," the Philippine tourism ministry said in a seasonal advisory.
From Barron's ● Nov. 2, 2026
Norway’s tourism officials decided to take that as a compliment.
From Salon ● Oct. 31, 2026
Longtime visitors to the Khumbu are saddened by the boom in tourism and the change it has wrought on what early Western climbers regarded as an earthly paradise, a real-life Shangri-La.
From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer
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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.
