Urban Tourism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Urban Tourism - Essay Example Tourism involves movement to another place for leisure, business, or recreational purposes like site-seeing, and seeing, meeting, and experiencing other cultures (Azizi, 2011, p.1). Urban tourism then refers to the movements of these tourists, domestic or international, to the towns and cities to enjoy the recreational facilities or business opportunities in the urban centers. Tourism is a phenomenon that has been in existence from the ancient times. Tourism has since grown to become a common leisure activity that is practiced across the globe (Azizi, 2011). Hundreds of millions of tourists are received at different tourist sites across the globe each year and the trend has been rising steadily over the past. The social, economic, and technological developments recorded in different parts of the world could be the factors contributing to the increase in tourism witnessed in different parts of the world. The modern efficient means of transport and communication has enhanced the abilit y of individuals to travel to different parts of the world relatively quicker. A foreign tourist may not require the help of the natives or local agents to locate some tourist center or other facilities that they may require courtesy of the modern technology like the internet maps to locate some place.The towns and cities play important roles in promoting the modern tourism industry and this explains the increase that has been recorded in urban tourism. The urban centers provide the main entrance for the international and even the domestic tourists in a country. The centers are often served with international transport and communication networks that provide convenient means of conveyance of the tourists. The centers are terminals for the air transport systems, rail transport, and major highways in a given country. Good infrastructure in the urban centers is an attraction for tourist activities. Similarly, the urban centers are endowed with historic attributes like waterfronts, attr active urban design, museums and theatre halls, conference facilities, exhibition centers, and facilities to host cultural and social functions like sports and festivals (Ruetsche, 2006, p.1). The forests and trees grown in the urban centers make them better environments in which individuals can work or spend their leisure activities (Dwyer et al, 1992, p.229). The urban centers are cosmopolitan and hence experience of a new culture is an attractive feature as well. Urban tourism has been an important industry generating incomes to many cities over the past years. In this view, cities across the globe strive to be attractive to the local and foreign tourists (City Mayors, 2011). The management of the cities makes efforts to improve on aspects like the infrastructural facilities in the cities, improved social amenities, and high level of security for the tourists, and, of course, excellent tourist attraction features in the cities. Tourism is often attached to the hospitality industr y since the tourists are the