Space tourism

 There has been a limited amount of orbital space tourism, with only the Russian Space Agency providing transport to date. A 2010 report into space tourism anticipated that it could become a billion-dollar market by 2030. The space market has been around since 1979, however, there has been a limited amount of orbital space tourism, with only the Russian Space Agency providing transport on its Soyuz and the Chinese Shenzhou being the only two spacecrafts suitable for human travel . In April 2001, Dennis Tito, a customer of the Russian Soyuz became the first tourist to visit space. In May 2011, Virgin Galactic launched its SpaceShipTwo plane that allows people to travel 2 hours space at the advertised price of $200,000 per seat. A challenge that the commercial space tourism industry faces is to be able to have fundings from private investments needed to lower the cost of access to space in addition to being able to encourage both private and public sector support to increase capacity to allow commercial passengers. With space tourism still being new concept, there are many factors that needs to be considered for the industry. From its actual demand to its risk factor to its liabilities and insurance issues, there are still a lot of research that needs to be conducted. A 2010 report into space tourism anticipated that the industry is expected to grow by 18% - 26% per year during 2020 to 2030.

Liabilities and insurance

 

After the September 11 attacks the tourism industry operators had to consider the health and safety of tourists because it became increasingly difficult to obtain liability insurance. The organisations willing to provide insurance to tourism industry operators required, that operators put in place best practice risk management structures. This included, that whatever was promised in the contract about the holiday was really delivered by the operator.

Tourism industry growth

 In 2004 the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) forecasts that international tourism will continue growing at the average annual rate of 4 percent. With the advent of e-commerce, tourism products have become prominent traded items on the internet. Tourism products and services have been made available through intermediaries, although tourism providers (hotels, airlines, etc.), including small-scale operators, can sell their services directly.

As a result of the late-2000s recession, international arrivals experienced a strong slowdown beginning in June 2008. Growth from 2007 to 2008 was only 3.7 percent during the first eight months of 2008. This slowdown on international tourism demand was also reflected in the air transport industry, with negative growth in September 2008 and a 3.3% growth in passenger traffic through September. The hotel industry also reported a slowdown, with room occupancy declining. In 2009 worldwide tourism arrivals decreased by 3.8 percent. By the first quarter of 2009, real travel demand in the United States had fallen 6 percent over six quarters. While this was considerably milder than what occurred after the September 11 attacks, the decline was at twice the rate, as real GDP has fallen. However, evidence suggests that tourism as a global phenomenon shows no signs of substantially abating in the long term. The UNWTO has noted, that tourists increasingly view vacations and travel as a necessity rather than a luxury, and that this shift in attitudes may explain tourist numbers recovering globally in 2009.

It has been suggested there is a strong correlation between tourism expenditure per capita and the degree to which countries play in the global context. Not only as a result of the important economic contribution of the tourism industry, but also as an indicator of the degree of confidence with which global citizens leverage the resources of the globe for the benefit of their local economies. This is why any projections of growth in tourism may serve as an indication of the relative influence that each country will exercise in the future.

Impacts on destinations

 Tourism has a significant impact on destinations, influencing their economy, culture, environment, and communities. Tourism positively affects many parties in society but can also be detrimental in certain situations.

In general, tourism positively affects the economy of its destination. The purchasing of commodities, and the usage of hotels and transport by tourists all contribute to economic activity within the country.

The sociocultural impacts of tourism are less straightforward, bringing both benefits and challenges to the destination. The interactions between tourists and locals foster a cultural exchange, particularly exposing tourists to a different culture through direct interactions and overall immersion. However, differing expectations in the societal and moral values of the tourists and those from the host location can cause friction between the two parties.

While tourism may have positive impacts environmentally, through an increase in awareness of certain environmental issues, tourism overall negatively impacts the environment. Tourist destinations and attractions located in the wild may neglect environmental concerns to satisfy the demands of tourists, creating issues such as pollution and deforestation.

Tourism also has positive and negative health outcomes for local people. The short-term negative impacts of tourism on residents' health are related to the density of tourist arrivals, the risk of disease transmission, road accidents, higher crime levels, as well as traffic congestion, crowding, and other stressful factors. In addition, residents can experience anxiety and depression related to their risk perceptions about mortality rates, food insecurity, contact with infected tourists, etc. At the same time, there are positive long-term impacts of tourism on residents' health and well-being outcomes through improving healthcare access, positive emotions, novelty, and social interactions.

Sleep tourism

 

Sleep tourism focuses on medical treatments or other approaches, and may focus on people who have difficulty falling asleep, people who experience interrupted sleep, people who don't feel rested after sleeping, snoring, breathing difficulties, and dreaming.

DNA tourism

 DNA tourism, also called "ancestry tourism" or "heritage travel", is tourism based on DNA testing. These tourists visit their remote relatives or places where their ancestors came from, or where their relatives reside, based on the results of DNA tests. DNA tourism became a growing trend in 2019.

People want to find and connect with their roots and the tourism industry is helping them in doing so. This is where DNA tourism comes into play. 23andme is a biotech company that will need your saliva sample and will give you a detailed percentage of your ancestry. Fascinating, isn't it? It is probably the biggest travel trend to become in 2019. It is simple, it is cheap and the results
will definitely drive you to take a journey of discovery.

Religious tourism

 Religious tourism, in particular pilgrimage, can serve to strengthen faith and to demonstrate devotion. Religious tourists may seek destinations whose image encourages them to believe that they can strengthen the religious elements of their self-identity in a positive manner. Given this, the perceived image of a destination may be positively influenced by whether it conforms to the requirements of their religious self-identity or not.