Tourism refers to both a migration, the fact of traveling for pleasure outside his space of everyday life, the usual living spaces, and to reside temporarily, but also an economic sector that includes all activities related to satisfaction and the movement of tourists.

If leisure travel seem to exist since ancient times, tourism takes direction from the eighteenth century with the development of the "Grand Tour". In 1803, the term "tourist" appeared in the French language, derived from the English word tourist appeared in 1800 and refers to its travelers in foreign countries, for another purpose that business before returning home. Stendhal makes popular word with his book Memoirs of a Tourist (1838). One hundred years later, the League of Nations will give a definition of the traveler. The word "tourism" arrives later without cover a precise definition than that given by the Larousse Supplement 1877: "Tourism, usual tourist". Its definition is refined from 1960. In 2000, four international organizations give a common definition to the term. "The" tourism "includes the activities of people during their trips to and staying in places outside their usual environment for a consecutive period not exceeding one year, for leisure, for business and other reasons not related to the exercise of an activity remunerated from within the place visited. "1.

Between the art of being a tourist and become a major business sector, tourism covers various representations of both the number of stakeholders, the practices - the forms are numerous amenities like health tourism, related to the mountain, seaside, sports, culture (heritage), the environment (landscapes), etc. - Or areas where recreation is implanted. It adapts with the changing modes of transportation, the development of hotels and restaurants, using different infrastructures of the regions or creating the structures necessary for its development (resorts). Since the 1990s and environmental awareness, a new form of tourism respectful of the environment is growing, particularly through sustainable tourism.

The development of this thriving industry is not related to the tourist practice of the middle class in Western countries (Europe and North America). This is the general improvement in living standards that allowed people to devote more time to leisure, including tourism.

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