Classification of tourism trips according to the main purpose

The classification of a trip according to its main purpose should be related to the main activities undertaken while on the trip. Based on this criterion, incentive trips organized and paid by employers, as a reward for their employees and in which participants engage in leisure, sport or recreation activities, should be included in category Holiday, leisure and recreation. Where relevant, incentive trips should be separately identified.

Each tourism trip has one and only one main purpose though a visitor can also

undertake secondary activities while on his/her trip.

Each main purpose (except the case of Transit) is associated with a group of main activities undertaken during the trip as follows:

1. Personal: this category includes all purposes of tourism trips that are not classified as business and professional.

· Holidays, leisure and recreation: this category includes, for example, sightseeing, visiting natural or man-made sites, attending sporting or cultural events, practicing a sport (skiing, riding, golfing, playing tennis, diving, surfing, hiking, trekking, mountain climbing, etc.) as a non-professional activity; using beaches, swimming pools and any recreation and entertainment facilities, cruising, gambling, attending summer camps for youngsters, resting, honeymooning, fine dining, visiting establishments specialized in wellbeing (i.e. wellness hotels), fitness except in the context of a medical treatment (in which case the purpose would be health and medical care), staying in a vacation home owned or leased by the household, etc.

· Visiting friends and relatives: this category includes, for example, activities such as visiting relatives or friends; attending weddings, funerals or any other family event; short-term caring for the sick or old, etc.

· Education and training: this category includes, for example, taking short-term courses paid either by employers (excluding ―on-the-job‖ training classified in Business and professional) or others, which should be identified separately; following particular programs of study (formal or informal) or acquiring specific skills through formal courses including paid study, language, professional or other special courses, etc.

· Health and medical care: this category includes, for example, receiving services from hospitals, clinics, convalescent homes and, more generally, health and social institutions, visiting health and spa resorts and other specialized places to receive medical treatments when they are based on medical advice,

including cosmetic surgeries using medical facilities and services-this category

includes only short-term treatments because long-term treatments requiring stays of one year or more are not part of tourism -, etc.

· Religion/pilgrimage: this category includes, for example, attending religious meetings and events, pilgrimages, etc.

· Shopping: this category includes, for example, purchasing consumer goods for own personal use or as gifts except for resale or for use in a future productive process, (in which case the purpose would be business and professional), etc.

· Transit: this category consists of stopping at a place without any specific purpose other than being en route to another destination;

· Other: this category includes, for example, volunteer work (n.i.e.), investigating work and migration possibilities; undertaking any other temporary non- remunerated activities not included elsewhere, etc.

2. Business and professional: this category includes attending meetings, conferences or congresses, trade fairs and exhibitions; giving lectures, concerts, shows and plays; promoting, purchasing, selling or buying goods or services on behalf of non-resident producers (of the country or place visited); participating in foreign government missions as diplomatic, military or international organization personnel, except when stationed on duty in the country visited; participating in non-governmental organizations missions; participating in scientific or academic research; programming tourism travel, contracting accommodation and transport services, working as guides or other tourism professionals for nonresident agencies (of the country or place visited); participating in professional sports activities; attending formal or informal on- the-job training courses; being part of crews on a private mode of transport (corporate jet, yacht, etc.), etc.