1. TYPES OF TOURIST BY: Mr Samukelo
Innocent Luyanda Nkonyeni UJ B Ed
3rd year student

2.  Definition of what a tourist and an excursionist is
 15 Different types of tourist
 How to draw tourist profiles

3.  What is a Tourist?
• Is a person who travels away from home for leisure, business or
other purposes for longer than a day e.g. 24 hours but less than a
year. An excursionist is a person who arrives at the destination and
departs on the same day.
Tourists are classified, according to their needs and their reasons for
travelling, into four broad categories:
 business and professional tourist
 leisure and holiday tourists
 tourists travelling to visit friends and relatives (VFR)
 Youth tourists, including backpackers and gap year travellers.
 The tourism industry tries to meet the needs of all types of tourists
by providing suitable facilities and services for each category.

4. 
• Business tourist: travel is related to business and the world of work. MESE which stands for meetings,
exhibitions and special events. These are all part of the business world. All major cities have conference centres
that cater for the needs of business tourists. An example of a business tourist would be a salesman who travels to
another city to attend a trade show and promote the products he sells.

• Education tourists: travel to attend a place of learning in another town, city, or country, in order to study for or
improve a qualification. They may also be people that attend workshops to learn new skills or improve existing
ones. A clinic nurse who travels to another province to attend a workshop about infectious diseases is an example
of an educational tourist.

• Incentive tourists: are people who are rewarded in the form of a company paid holiday for their hard work, or for
achieving goals set by their company. This incentive to travel motivates employees to work harder, improves work
relationships, and builds team spirit. A salesman who receives a holiday package for achieving the most sales in
the company is an example of an incentive tourist.

• Health or medical tourist: travel because they want to visit a holiday spa, needs medical special treatment that
is only available away from home, undergo procedures that are cheaper in another country, or are recovering from
an illness in a healthier climate. Many tourist come from oversees countries to South Africa to have plastic surgery.

5.  Adventure tourist: want an unusual and exciting experience. They want to
participate in activities that may be dangerous, such as rock climbing, river rafting,
skydiving, shark cave diving and bungee jumping.
 Cultural tourist: want to experience different cultures, such as San rock art, or
cultural related festivals such as the National Art Festival in Grahams-town, or the
International Jazz Festival in Cape Town. They would also want to experience the
World Heritage Sites in the country.
 Eco-tourists: travel to experience nature such as traveling to Bonita Gardens in
Bloemfontein South Africa
 Leisure tourist: want to rest and relax and have a break from the usual routine
Examples of this type of tourism are a cruise on a cruise liner, a trip on a Blue train,
attending a special music special music performance or relaxing on the beach.

6.  Religious tourist: want to see and experience places of religious importance. There are many
religious destinations in the world such as the Hajj in Mecca, Jerusalem in Israel, Varanasi in
India, and the Vatican in Rome. During Easter the largest Christian pilgrimage to Zion City,
Moria, Limpopo, takes place. More than a million pilgrims travel to Moria to every Easter.
 Shopping tourist: travel to shopping malls, shopping centres, factory shops, crafts market,
festivals, and touring shopping routes such as the Midlands in KwaZulu-Natal. Their main
purpose is to buy items.
 Special interest tourist (STI): have particular interest such as bird watching, food and wine,
flowers, fishing during the Sardine Run, or attending the Cape Town Book Fair.
 Sport and recreation tourist: participate in or watch sporting events. Popular events include
the Soccer World Cup, Winblendon Tennis Championship, Comrades Marathon, and Fisher
River Canoe Marathon. Surfing, mountain climbing, cricket, swimming, golf and tennis are
popular sports.

7.  Tourist visiting friends and relatives (VFR) want to
stay in contact with friends and relatives and travel
away from home to visit them. These tourist may travel
to attend a wedding, funeral, or birthday celebration of
friends or relatives.

8.  Backpacking or youth tourist: generally have little luggage,
are on a budget, want to experience adventure and
excitement, tend to travel independently, enjoy meeting
other traveller, and have flexible travel schedules. A group
of young tourists on a weekend walking tour in the
mountains, or a student touring around the country by bus
are examples of this group of tourist.
 Gap year travellers: do not study further or enter job
opportunity after school, instead they take break called a
gap year. They travel, work and earn money, learn new
skills or do volunteer work in another country. During this
time they gain skills and life experience before starting
tertiary education. These young people are also known as
“gappers”.

9.  To make sure that the needs of all types of
tourist are met it is important for travel agents
to draw up tourist profile. This is a summary
of facts about what tourists want and expect
form the travel experience.

10.  name
 nationality
 age
 contact details such as address and telephone number
 occupation
 need and preferences, for, example, adventure, sport, one
education
 specific requirement such as accommodation, transport, or
food
 and the length of the trip, and arrival and departure date.
 Travel agents prepare tourist profiles of their clients and use
the information when arranging trips for them. This will
ensure that the specific needs of the tourist are met.

11.  1 Explain the following 2 Match the type of tourist with tourism experience:
acronyms used in tourism
Tourist interest Tourism experience
 SIT
(1) Loves wildlife (A) A wetland sanctuary
 MESE
(2) Enjoys nature (B) Run the Comrades
 VFR
(3) Keen on sports (c) Shark cage diving
(4) Keen on adventure (D) The White Lions of Timbavati

12.  3 Describe each of the following by giving an
example:
 Cultural tourist
 Eco-tourist
 Incentive tourist
 Gap year traveller

13. John Brown, from Sydney, is visiting South Africa for ten days to
celebrate his 24th birthday. He wants to experience as many
adventure attractions as he can before he returns home on
Christmas day. He is a sports science consultant, does not eat
meat, and wants to taste some South African food. He wants to
take photographs of wildlife and the new friends in the hostels
in which he will stay. His back contains all his clothes and
sleeping bag. He does not have enough money for fancy
restaurant or expensive gifts. He forgot his international driver’s
license at home.

14. 1. 

3
A) Cultural Tourist: want to experience different
cultures, such as San rock art, or cultural related
 SIT: Special Interest festivals such as the National Art Festival in
Graham-stown, or the International Jazz Festival in
Tourist Cape Town. They would also want to experience the
World Heritage Sites in the country.
 MESE: meetings,  B) Eco-tourist: want to travel to experience the
natural environment and experience different
exhibitions and special cultures. The sustainable of resources is important to
these tourists. An example of this type of this
events tourism would be visiting the iSimangaliso Wetland
Park in Kwa-Zulu Natal.
 VFR: Visiting Friends  C) Incentive tourists: are people who are rewarded
in the form of a company paid holiday for their hard
and Relatives work, or for achieving goals set by their company.
This incentive to travel motivates employees to work
harder, improves work relationships, and builds
2 team spirit. A salesman who receives a holiday
package for achieving the most sales in the company
 D 
is an example of an incentive tourist.
D) Gap year travellers: do not study further or enter
 A job opportunity after school, instead they take break
called a gap year. They travel, work and earn money,
learn new skills or do volunteer work in another
 B country. During this time they gain skills and life
experience before starting tertiary education. These
 C young people are also known as “gappers”.

15. Name Mr. John Brown
Nationality Australian
Age 24
Contact details 2 Boundary Road, Bondi Beach
Sydney (Learners may supply made
up contact detail)
Occupation Sports Science Consultant
Needs and preferences • Accommodation – hostel
• Sport – watch local rugby
• Photography – trip to a game
reserve
• Food – visit to township
restaurant. Mr Brown is a
vegetarian so make sure vegetarian
food is available
Specific requirements • Transport- bus, for journeys
between cities, minibus taxi in and
around towns, air for the long
flight
• Dietary
Budget Low to middle

16.  Brown, D. Holomisa, T. Kota, l, et al (2011). Via
Afrika Tourism Grade10 teachers Guide. Types
of tourist and tourist profile (pp.7-9).
Heerengracht: Cape Town