3. Tourist attractions

Tourist attractions are the places that tourists want to visit because they are interesting, beautiful or exciting. There are natural tourist attractions like wonderful mountains, lakes and rivers. Millions of tourists travel to other countries each year to enjoy beautiful places. Also there are man-made attractions like theme parks. Cultural and historic attractions are a part of human culture. Tourists visit Athens and Rome to see ancient buildings. They also visit New York to look at modern buildings, like Empire State Building. So cultural and historical attractions include historical museums, temples, churches, castles etc. These attractions present the culture and history of the place and its people. Stonehenge in England is a bright example of cultural and historical attraction. It is a part of the history of whole nation. And even nowadays it magnifies people’s attention like it magnified many years ago. It magnifies the tourists and scientists by its mystery. The most popular theme park in the world is in Japan; it is Tokyo Disneyland, and it gets about 17 million visitors every year. In fact, the six most popular theme parks in the world are part of the Disney Company. Four of them are in the USA, one is in Japan, and one is in France. In many countries there are national parks: natural tourist attractions controlled by the government. One of the most famous is Yosemite National Park in the USA. The Grand Canyon and Redwood Forest are another examples of natural attractions. Some kinds of tourist attractions bring tourists to a town or country for only a few days or weeks. The Olympic Games and the Football World Cup are two examples. Tourist attractions are the main reason for travelling.

4. The changing face of tourism

Like many other industries, the tourist industry changes from year to year. Firstly, this is because people want to see and do different things. For example, more and more people today are becoming interested in eco-tourism. Secondly, it is because the world changes; one part of the world can suddenly become more - or less - dangerous. For example, 2000 was a good year for tourism in Hungary, Slovenia and Croatia, because people stopped fighting in Kosovo. The economy can bring changes too. When the Japanese yen is strong, Japanese people can travel more cheaply, but visiting Japan is more expensive for people from other countries. What about tourism in the future? People have talked about holidays in the space since the 1960s but nowadays this idea is not so unreal. In 2001, a rich American man called Dennis Tito had the first holiday in space. For 20 million dollars he got a ride to the International Space Station. Some companies plan to sell holidays in space. They will take tourists about a hundred kilometers up into space and fly them around the earth. Perhaps there will soon be hotels in space, too. Now people are using computers when they look for a holiday. With virtual reality, you can ‘visit’ different holiday resorts. Virtual reality is getting better all the time. And soon it can be really the same with the real world. Then tourists will be able to go on holiday and stay at home at the same time! Nowadays tourism is an integral part of our everyday life. And some people say that it is the name of modern disease because during holidays or vacations people cannot stay at home, they are going to some places. Tourism helps us to know other places, countries, their people, history and culture.

5. ECO-TOURISM

Many people do no want to take an all-inclusive holiday because they want to learn about other countries and cultures. “Eco-tourism” is a modern word: it means travelling to places to learn about different cultures and environments. Education is very important during these holidays. Today eco- tourism is becoming more and popular. Another way of thinking about eco-tourism is this: an ordinary tourist visits a country and asks, ‘What has this country got for me?’, an eco-tourist visits a country and asks, ‘What can I give to this country?’, for example, some eco-tourists visit other countries (or other parts of their own country) to do conservation work. Their job is to help the environment, or to protect places, animals or plants that are in danger. The British Trust for Conservation Volunteers (BTCV) has working holidays in more than 20 different countries. The volunteers who go on these holidays work from 9 o’clock in the morning until 5 o’clock in the afternoon! They build walls, clean beaches, and do a lot of other jobs to help the environment. There are many conservation organizations around the world that help animals in danger. Volunteers give their time and money to help this work. Learning about life in other countries is another part of eco-tourism. SERVAS is an organization that helps people from different cultures to meet and spend time together. People who belong to this organization travel to different countries and stay at homes of other SERVAS people. The organization hopes that, in this way, people will begin to understand each other better and the world will be a friendlier place. SERVAS started in 1948, and today it has more than 14,000 families in 130 different countries. It is a good way to travel around the world and make new friends at the same time.