Tourism Business as the World’s Largest Industry and Employer

Istanbul to Cairo, via Syria and Jordan, is a classic overland route. It is a route that has been travelled for centuries, particularly during the Ottoman Empire. Historically it overlapped with the Hajj, with many people covering all or part of the route as part of their pilgrimage to Mecca. Backpackers discovered it in the '70s and '80s, with hippies searching for spiritual peace who departed to Jerusalem from Istanbul instead of going to India via Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. After the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel, onward travel from Jerusalem to Cairo became a possibility. It is now well travelled by backpackers and overland companies alike although the amount of travelers journeying the route can be affected by any unrest in neighboring countries.
Wildlife tourism can be an eco and animal friendly tourism in both captive and wild environments. It has experienced a dramatic and rapid growth in recent years worldwide. Wildlife tourism, in its simplest sense, is watching wild animals in their natural habitat.
Wildlife tourism is also a multi-million dollar industry offering customized tour packages and safaris.
A safari (pronounced /səˈfɑri/) is an overland journey. It usually refers to a trip by tourists to Africa, traditionally for a big-game hunt; today the term often refers to a trip taken not for the purposes of hunting, but to observe and photograph big game and other wildlife. There is a certain theme or style associated with the word, which includes khaki clothing, belted bush jackets, pith helmets or slouch hats, and animal skins — like leopard's skin.
Entering the English language in the late 19th century, the word safari means "long journey" in Swahili. Originally from the Arabic سفرة (safra) meaning a journey. The verb for "to travel" in Swahili is "kusafiri", the noun for the journey is "safari". These words are used for any type of journey, e.g. by bus from Nairobi to Mombasa. The person generally attributed to having used the word in English is Sir Richard Francis Burton, the famous explorer.
Although the word safari came to popular usage in reference to hunting and touring expeditions in East Africa, it is now also used to mean watching and photographing wildlife in all parts of Africa. The term has also spread to cover other adventurous journeys and expeditions, including whale watching safaris, Arctic safaris, Amazon safaris, eco-safari, etc.
The most well known safari areas in Africa include The Masai Mara and Serengeti in East Africa, Kruger National Park in South Africa, Etosha in Namibia, and The Okavango Delta and Chobe National Park in Botswana.
A big-game hunter is a person engaged in hunting for large animals for trophies or game. The pursuit of the major objective might place the hunter at risk of personal harm. Potential big-game sought include, but are not limited to, bears, big cats, boars, elephants, buffalo, kudu, antelope, rhinoceros, hartebeest, moose, elk, and deer. Big game hunters hunt in places such as New Zealand, British Columbia, Montana, Ethiopia, Zambia and other parts of Africa. The weapons they use include, but are not limited to, rifles, shotguns, crossbows, and some types of handguns.
Jungle tourism is a rising subcategory of adventure travel defined as travel in the jungle regions of the earth. Although similar in many respects to adventure travel, jungle tourism pertains specifically to the context of region, culture and activity. Jungle tours have become a major component of green tourism in tropical destinations and are a relatively recent phenomenon of Western international tourism.
Of the regions that take part in tourism-driven sustainable development practices and ecotourism, Mexican, Central and South American practices are the most pervasive in the industry; notably Mayan jungle excursions. Other regions include jungle territories in Africa, Australia, and the South Pacific.
The majority of jungle tour operators in Central and South America are concentrated in what is known as the Mayan World or "Ruta Maya". The Mayan World encompasses five different countries that hosted the entirety of the Mayan Civilization: Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras and El Salvador. Most tours consist of visits to popular Mayan archaeological sites such as Tikal, Guatemala, Chichen Itza, and Copan. These day visits will usually consist of a guided tour of a heavily tourist-concentrated Mayan and archaeological site. Tikal and Chichen Itza are prime examples of popular day-visit sites. Such sites involve a tour guide, designated either by the state government or by a private company, for the tourists. These tour guides are predominantly trained professionals, certified to take large parties of fifty through heavily populated archaeological sites.
Although most of the visits to these more prominent sites involve day trips, there are also many jungle tour operators that showcase less-known, remote Mayan jungle ruins such as Nakum, Yaxha, and El Mirador. These tours involve much more preparation, time and funding to explore as they are usually in very remote and generally inaccessible regions of the Mayan jungles. These ruins and sites are reached by alternative and physically taxing means of travel such as bicycle, canoe, horseback or hiking. This is what essentially differentiates jungle tourism from any other sort of adventure travel tours. There are several tour operators that will even employ the use of machetes during tours.
Another significant and noteworthy difference is the fact that the majority of tour operators that travel deep into the Central and South American Jungle will cap the number of persons traveling in the group at ten to fifteen. This is done to minimize the impact on the jungle flora and fauna. Federal laws in some countries prohibit any given group large than fifteen people traveling through the Mayan jungle, a generally protected region, but very limited resources have kept such practices from occurring under the radar.
Water tourism (also known as a boating holiday) is traveling by boat while on holiday, with the express purpose of seeing things meant for the water tourist. This can be traveling from luxury port to luxury port, but also landing a boat for lunch or other day recreation at specially prepared day boat-landings.
Nautical tourism is an increasingly popular way to combine love of sailing and boating with vacation and holiday activities. First defined as an industry segment in Europe and South America, it has since caught on in the United States and the Pacific Rim.
Not only is nautical tourism an enjoyable way to see unique parts of the world, it is also a very profitable industry. Many tourists who enjoy sailing combine water travel with other activities. Supplying the equipment and accessories for those activities has spawned businesses for those purposes. With many nautical enthusiasts living onboard their vessels even in port, nautical tourists bring demand for a variety of goods and services. Marinas developed especially for nautical tourists have been built in Europe, South America and Australia.