Tourism System, The

The tourism system is a complex network of human, geographical, and institutional relationships. Besides the human focal point of the tourist, the destination is the main driver within the industry and the raison d’être of tourism. The destination region is, however, only one of the model’s three geographical elements, which in turn are only one of several ways of categorizing the tourism system. Other categorizations are by main actors and by industry sectors. The concept and model of the tourism system is helpful not only for relating, for instance, tourism types, stakeholder positions, or traveler motivations, but also for analyzing recent challenges to particular actors or sectors of the tourism system, such as the processes of globalization or disintermediation.