Why ‘the tourism industry’ is misleading as a generic expression: The case for the plural variation, ‘tourism industries’

‘The tourism industry’ is a widely used expression referring to a supposedly single entity operating across all places where tourism occurs. However, for anyone wanting more than superficial knowledge, the singular expression is misleading as a generic, because many tourism industries exist, some large and some small, overlapping in many places and with diverse component organisations. They directly, but only partly, support tourism—a partly industrialised form of human activity. Several theories support the contention that there is not one tourism industry but many. In contrast, the contention that tourism is supported by one giant industry has no robust theoretical foundation. The issue has practical implications for researchers, educators, business managers, planners and policy makers. Questions are raised for schools of tourism in universities. Should we adopt ‘tourism industries’ as the generic term in research, teaching notes and lectures, and in the brochures advertising our courses? Or should we persist with ‘the tourism industry’? Should universities be leaders of knowledge, or should we passively and uncritically follow industrial associations and our own previous habits?