Special Interest Tourism is a category of tourism that involves people with
particular interests such as painting, cooking or bird-watching. The tourists
who fall under this category are mainly people with very particular needs on
visiting a place. For example, you can have a tourist in a particular national
park just for bird watching.
A range of special interest tourist categories
• Regional Tourism – Growth in interest in
travel to regions of the UK and the major cities within regions, supported by
upgrading of transport links and attractions.
• Cultural
Tourism - Turning visits to arts, sports and other events into a weekend
stay or centre-piece of a holiday.
• Heritage Tourism - Impact of Lottery
funding to upgrade existing heritage sites and create visitor attractions at
new locations. Growing interest in the heritage of industrial age in Britain,
as we fully embrace the post-industrial era.
• Rural Tourism – See activity on Tourism in
the Countryside.
• Educational Tourism – for example, learn a
language in the country where it is spoken.
• Cycle
Tourism – Integrating transport links to enable people to tour further
afield on their (or hired) bicycles.
• Travelling for Health – The growth and
re-birth of spa and health resorts. Personal well-being becomes the focal point
of the tourism experience.
• Environmental Tourism - ‘Green’ holiday
locations and activities include environmentally-friendly forms of travel as
well as visitor locations offering ‘green’ experiences.
• Wine and Food Tourism - Food and wine
festivals, journeys through wine and food producing areas. Travel and activity
form part of the entire holiday experience.
• The Cruise Experience - This sector has
seen rapid growth in the past twenty years.
• Festivals and Events Tourism - Celebrating
global, national and regional festivals and events. Cultural and religious
festivals especially popular.
• Seniors Tourism - Boosted by increased life
expectancy in the developed world and by a general rise in affluence of some
senior citizens, the market for ‘grey’ tourism is expanding.
