In the ninth chapter of the text, the author illuminates the nature and machinations of the preeminent hospitality field known as tourism. The chapter begins by sharing that tourism is essentially about facilitating and pleasing individuals or groups who maybe traveling for business or pleasure. According to the text, tourism is typically classified by things such as geography, motivation, and industry. In addition, the clarifies that tourism is nebulous term for a collection of interdependent industries. When taken as whole, tourism is widely considered the largest industry in the world. The author also points out that there tends to be a pronounced positive economic impact on the surrounding locales where tourism takes place. The chapter the turns its attention to the enterprises and individuals that make tourism possible, and these include tour operators, travel managers, wholesalers, travel agencies and the like. They act as intermediaries between tourist and the destination they intend on visiting. Afterwards, the chapter discusses the how the desire to experience new things is what generally drives prospective tourist to travel. From here, the author then brings us to the contentious discussion of how tourism is perceived by those it affects. The audience comes to learn that many view tourism as a positive because it brings understanding to different cultures and can bring new wealth to more impoverished regions, but on the contrary many see it as a detriment because it tends to come with local cultures and in many cases damage there natural environments. One also learns that the growing trend of touristic activities that seek to mitigate and alleviate this harm is known as ecotourism. the chapter comes to a close by focusing the tourism’s industry newfound trajectory towards sustainability.
