The words tourist and tourism are quite modern, but tourism is much
older. People have always travelled to distant parts of the world in
order to see great buildings or works of art, to learn new languages,
or simply for pleasure. Nowadays, however, organised tourism is an
enormous industry all over the world, and many national economies
depend on it. In the past tourism meant travelling to foreign
countries, but now it also includes travelling within your own
country. The last century saw the growth of mass tourism, with package
tours to holiday resorts in the sun. In recent years tourists have
begun to look for alternatives to crowded resorts, and other forms of
tourism have developed.