The last week in June finds the Sunday Stills Photo Challenge exploring the theme “tourist.”
Summer in the Northern Hemisphere sees an abundance of tourists.
We all think we know who tourists are, but did you know that YOU are a tourist? Any time you step out of your locale, you become a tourist.
“Stop hating the tourist—after all, tourists are just us in other locations.” Dr. Greg Shaw
Tourism can be defined as the act of travel for the purpose of recreation, and the provision of services for this act.
In two of the classes I teach, we discuss the idea of tourism. In fact, the major in which I teach is called Recreation, Parks and Tourism Administration. Adding “tourism” and changing the major from Recreation and Leisure Studies brought hundreds more students seeking courses in this major which include 14 career tracks beside the traditional public recreation services, parks & natural resources management, and therapeutic recreation.
Tourism and hospitality play a huge role in this major which opens doors for careers in event planning, professional and collegiate sports management, and theme park management, to name a few. One of our class discussions includes these questions:
- What would you say are your hometown’s best tourist attractions or special features worthy of tourist visits?
- What special places in your town would tourists ruin?
Food for thought!
“Move to a new country and you quickly see that visiting a place as a tourist, and actually moving there for good, are two very different things.”
― Tahir Shah, Travels With Myself
Are you a tourist this summer? When we went to the Big Island of Hawaii last winter, I KNEW I was a tourist and was very happy to be one. How else can one learn about the places they travel?
Did I mention I have been to Yosemite National Park 25 times in my life so far? I do not feel like a tourist there at all, more like a local who has chased a few bears away, camped in tents in the frigid alpine nights, and enjoyed countless ranger-led hikes and campfires.
It’s all in our perspective.
Please join the ever-growing list of bloggers sharing for Sunday Stills!
Feel free to use this image for your posts.
The July calendar is posted on the Sunday Stills page.
Where was the last place you felt like a tourist?
Second Wind Leisure Perspectives 
What is YOUR perspective? Please include your name if WP identifies you as “anonymous.