Tourism refers to both migration, traveling, for pleasure outside of its daily space, habitual places of life, and residing temporarily there, but also an economic sector that includes all Activities related to 

the satisfaction and travel of tourists.

While pleasure travel seems to have existed since Antiquity, tourism became meaningful from the eighteenth century onwards with the development of the "Grand Tour". In 1803, the term "tourist" appeared in the French language, deriving from the English word "tourist", which appeared in 1800, and designates travelers traveling abroad for purposes other than business, before returning home. A hundred years later, the League of Nations will give a definition of this traveler. The word "tourism" arrives later without covering a precise definition than that given by the Supplement Larousse of 1877: "Tourism, habit of tourist". Its definition will be refined from the 1960s. In 2000, four international organizations give a common definition of the term. "Tourism" includes the activities deployed by persons on their journeys and stays in places outside their usual environment for a consecutive period not exceeding one year, for leisure, business purposes And other reasons not related to the exercise of a remunerated activity in the place visited. "1.

Between the art of being a tourist and a sector of activities become major, tourism covers diverse representations as much by the number of actors concerned, as the practices - the forms of amenities are many such as health tourism, Linked to the mountain, seaside, sport, culture (heritage), environment (landscapes), etc. - or the places where recreation takes place. It adapts to changing modes of transport, the development of hotels and restaurants, using the different infrastructures of the regions concerned or creating the structures necessary for its development (tourist resorts). Since the 1990s and the environmental awareness, a new form of tourism respectful of its environment is developing through, inter alia, sustainable tourism.

The development of this real industry is to be linked with the practice of tourism of the middle classes of Western countries (Europe and North America). It is the general improvement in the standard of living that has allowed people to devote more time to their leisure, especially tourism.