tourism

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *terh₁-

Proto-Indo-European *-nos

Proto-Indo-European *tórh₁nos

Proto-Hellenic *tórnos

Ancient Greek τόρνος (tórnos)bor.

Latin tornus

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂

Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂

Proto-Indo-European *-yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu.

Proto-Italic *-ājō

Proto-Italic *-āō

Latin -ō

Latin tornō

Old French torner

Old French tourder.

English tour

Proto-Indo-European *-id-

Proto-Indo-European *-yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti

Proto-Hellenic *-íd͏̌d͏̌ō

Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō)

Proto-Indo-European *-mos

Proto-Indo-European *-mós

Ancient Greek -μός (-mós)

Ancient Greek -ισμός (-ismós)der.

English -ism

English tourism

From tour + -ism.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈtʊəɹɪzəm/, /ˈtɔːɹɪzəm/
• (Standard Southern British) IPA^(key): /ˈtoːɹɪzəm/, /ˈtɵːɹɪzəm/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈtʊɹɪzəm/, /ˈtɝ.ɪszəm/, /ˈtɔɹɪst/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /ˈtʉɾɪszəm/, [ˈtʉːɾɪszəm]

Noun

tourism (usually uncountable, plural tourisms)

1. The act of travelling or sightseeing, particularly away from one's home.

   Mass tourism damaged the beach.

   • 2025 November 26, Fang Yongrui (pseudonym), “Tourism as Treason: Pastor Sun Chenghao Sentenced to Four and a Half Years for a Trip”, in Bitter Winter‎^[1], archived from the original on 26 November 2025:

     The state treats Jeju tourism as ideological contraband. […] By criminalizing tourism, the state criminalizes faith.

2. The industry in which such travels and sightseeing are organized.

   Tourism brings a lot of tax revenue to the area.

3. (figurative) The act of visiting another region or jurisdiction for a particular purpose.

   libel tourism; suicide tourism; sex tourism

Derived terms

• abortion tourism
• accessible tourism
• adventure tourism
• agritourism
• agrotourism
• alcotourism
• alternative tourism
• antitourism
• apitourism
• aquatourism
• architourism
• astrotourism
• avitourism
• benefit tourism
• birth tourism
• bookstore tourism
• burglary tourism
• class tourism
• conscious tourism
• crime tourism
• cultural tourism
• cybertourism
• dark tourism
• disaster tourism
• ecotourism
• educational tourism
• enotourism
• ethnotourism
• faith tourism
• fertility tourism
• film tourism
• fuel tourism
• gambling tourism
• gastrotourism
• geotourism
• ghetto tourism
• health tourism
• jungle tourism
• libel tourism
• literary tourism
• mass tourism
• medical tourism
• nontourism
• overtourism
• party tourism
• pescatourism
• phototourism
• poorism
• posttourism
• protourism
• religious tourism
• romance tourism
• sex tourism
• space tourism
• suicide tourism
• sustainable tourism
• teletourism
• thanatourism
• tourismphobia
• tourist
• undertourism
• VFR tourism
• voluntourism
• war tourism

Related terms

• tourist

Descendants

• → French: tourisme (see there for further descendants)

Translations

the act of travelling or sightseeing

• Afrikaans: toerisme
• Albanian: turizm m
• Arabic: سِيَّاحَة f (siyyāḥa)

  Egyptian Arabic: سياحة f (seyāḥa)

• Aragonese: torismo
• Armenian: տուրիզմ (hy) (turizm), զբոսաշրջություն (hy) (zbosašrǰutʻyun)
• Assamese: পৰ্যটন (porzoton)
• Asturian: turismu m
• Azerbaijani: turizm, səyahət (az)
• Basque: turismo (eu)
• Belarusian: туры́зм m (turýzm)
• Bengali: পর্যটন (bn) (porjoṭon)
• Bulgarian: тури́зъм (bg) m (turízăm)
• Carpathian Rusyn: тури́стика f (turýstyka)
• Catalan: turisme (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 旅遊 / 旅游 (leoi⁵ jau⁴), 游覽 / 游览 (jau⁴ laam⁵), 旅行 (leoi⁵ hang⁴), 觀光 / 观光 (gun¹ gwong¹)

  Mandarin: 旅遊 / 旅游 (zh) (lǚyóu), 游覽 / 游览 (yóulǎn), 旅行 (zh) (lǚxíng), 觀光 / 观光 (zh) (guānguāng)

• Czech: turistika (cs) f, turismus m
• Danish: turisme c
• Dutch: toerisme (nl) n
• Esperanto: turismo (eo)
• Estonian: turism
• Finnish: matkailu (fi), turismi (fi)
• French: tourisme (fr) m
• Galician: turismo (gl) m
• Georgian: ტურიზმი (ṭurizmi)
• German: Tourismus (de) m
• Greek: τουρισμός (el) m (tourismós)
• Hebrew: תַּיָּרוּת / תיירות (he) (tayarút)
• Hindi: पर्यटन (hi) m (paryaṭan), देशाटन (hi) m (deśāṭan), टूरिज़्म m (ṭūrizma), सियाहत (hi) f (siyāhat)
• Hungarian: turizmus (hu)
• Icelandic: ferðamennska (is) f
• Ido: turismo (io)
• Indonesian: pariwisata (id)
• Irish: turasóireacht f
• Italian: turismo (it) m
• Japanese: 観光 (ja) (かんこう, kankō), 旅行 (ja) (りょこう, ryokō)
• Kazakh: туризм (tuwrıyzm), саяхат (sayaxat)
• Khmer: ទេសចរណ៍ (teihsaʼcɑɑ)
• Korean: 관광(觀光) (ko) (gwan'gwang)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: geştûguzarî (ku), turîzm (ku)

• Kyrgyz: туризм (ky) (turizm), саякат (ky) (sayakat)
• Lao: ການທ່ອງທ່ຽວ (lo) (kān thǭng thiāu)
• Latvian: tūrisms m
• Lithuanian: turizmas m
• Luxembourgish: Tourismus
• Macedonian: тури́зам m (turízam)
• Malay: pelancongan (ms)
• Malayalam: വിനോദസഞ്ചാരം (ml) (vinōdasañcāraṁ), ടൂറിസം (ml) (ṭūṟisaṁ)
• Maltese: turiżmu m
• Marathi: पर्यटन n (paryaṭan)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: жуулчлал (mn) (žuulčlal)

• Norwegian: turisme

  Bokmål: turisme m

  Nynorsk: turisme m

• Occitan: torisme (oc) m
• Pashto: سياحت (ps) m (sayāhat), ټوريزم m (ṭorizǝm)
• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: گَرْدِشْگَری (fa) (gardešgari), جَهانْگَرْدی (fa) (jahângardi), سِیاحَت (fa) (siyâhat)

• Polish: turystyka (pl) f
• Portuguese: turismo (pt) m
• Romanian: turism (ro) n
• Russian: тури́зм (ru) m (turízm)
• Sanskrit: पर्यटन (sa) (paryaṭana), पर्यटनम् (sa) m (paryaṭanam)
• Sardinian: turismu
• Scots: tourism
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: турѝзам m

  Latin: turìzam (sh) m

• Sinhalese: සංචාරක (saṁcāraka)
• Slovak: turistika f, turizmus m
• Slovene: turizem (sl) m
• Spanish: turismo (es) m
• Swedish: turism (sv) c
• Tagalog: turismo
• Tajik: ҷаҳонгардӣ (jahongardi), саёҳат (sayohat), сайёҳат (sayyohat), туризм (tg) (turizm)
• Thai: การท่องเที่ยว (th) (gaan-tɔ̂ng-tîao)
• Turkish: turizm (tr), seyahat (tr)
• Turkmen: syýahatçylyk, turizm, syýahat
• Ukrainian: тури́зм m (turýzm)
• Urdu: سِیاحَت f (siyāhat), ٹُورِزْم m (ṭūrizm)
• Uyghur: ساياھەچىلىك (sayahechilik), ساياھەت (ug) (sayahet)
• Uzbek: turizm (uz), sayohat (uz)
• Vietnamese: sự du lịch (vi), du lịch (vi), lữ hành (vi)
• Yiddish: טוריזם (turizm)

industry

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 旅遊業 / 旅游业 (zh) (lǚyóuyè)

• Danish: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: matkailu (fi)
• German: Tourismusindustrie (de) f, Tourismusbranche (de) f
• Hindi: पर्यटन (hi) m (paryaṭan)
• Icelandic: ferðaþjónusta (is) f
• Indonesian: pariwisata (id), kepariwisataan (id), turisme (id)
• Irish: turasóireacht f
• Italian: please add this translation if you can
• Malay: pelancongan (ms)
• Portuguese: please add this translation if you can
• Russian: тури́зм (ru) m (turízm)
• Spanish: please add this translation if you can

collectively, the tourists visiting a place or landmark

• Basque: turismo (eu)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Danish: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: turismi (fi), turistit pl
• German: Fremdenverkehr (de) m, Reiseverkehr m
• Italian: turismo (it) m
• Portuguese: please add this translation if you can
• Russian: please add this translation if you can
• Spanish: turismo (es) m

act of visiting for a purpose

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 旅遊 / 旅游 (zh) (lǚyóu), 游覽 / 游览 (yóulǎn), 旅行 (zh) (lǚxíng), 觀光 / 观光 (zh) (guānguāng)

• Danish: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: turismi (fi)
• German: -tourismus (de) m
• Portuguese: please add this translation if you can
• Russian: please add this translation if you can
• Spanish: please add this translation if you can

Anagrams

• morutis, rims out