Tourism is the travel business — it caters to people who are visiting a place. Tourism turns a destination into a vacation spot. Tourism is also a word for the act of traveling, especially abroad. Fanny packs are not required.
If you’re visiting a new place, stop by the office of tourism and they’ll give you the lowdown on the local hotspots. If you’ve visited somewhere because it has beautiful sights, great museums, or interesting history, you were a tourist. Tourism is the business that makes money from tourists. As the word implies, tourism often involves actual tours, which could be on foot, in a bus, or even on the back of a llama.