Dictionary of travel, tourism, and hospitality

Dictionary of Travel,

Tourism and Hospitality

By the same author

Britain – Workshop or Service Centre to the World?

The British Hotel and Catering Industry

The Business of Hotels (with H. Ingram)

Europeans on Holiday

Higher Education and Research in Tourism in Western Europe

Historical Development of Tourism (with A.J. Burkart)

Holiday Surveys Examined

The Management of Tourism (with A.J. Burkart eds)

Managing Tourism (ed.)

A Manual of Hotel Reception (with J.R.S. Beavis)

Paying Guests

Profile of the Hotel and Catering Industry (with D.W. Airey)

Tourism and Hospitality in the 21st Century (with A. Lockwood eds)

Tourism and Productivity

Tourism Council of the South Pacific Corporate Plan

Tourism Employment in Wales

Tourism: Past, Present and Future (with A.J. Burkart)

Trends in Tourism: World Experience and England’s Prospects

Trends in World Tourism

Understanding Tourism

Your Manpower (with J. Denton)

Dictionary of Travel,

Tourism and Hospitality

S. Medlik

Third edition

OXFORD AMSTERDAM BOSTON LONDON NEW YORK PARIS

SAN DIEGO SAN FRANCISCO SINGAPORE SYDNEY TOKYO

Butterworth-Heinemann

An imprint of Elsevier Science

Linacre House, Jordan Hill, Oxford OX2 8DP

200 Wheeler Road, Burlington MA 01803

First published 1993

Reprinted (with amendments) 1994

Second edition 1996

Third edition 2003

Copyright © 1993, 1996, 2003, S. Medlik. All rights reserved

The right of S. Medlik to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in

accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

No part of this publication may be reproduced in

any material form (including photocopying or storing in any medium by

electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some

other use of this publication) without the written permission of the

copyright holder except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright,

Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued by the

Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London,

England W1T 4LP. Applications for the copyright holder’s written

permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed

to the publishers

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress

ISBN 0 7506 5650 6

Printed and bound in Great Britain

Composition by Scribe Design, Gillingham, Kent, UK

For information on all Butterworth-Heinemann publications

visit our website at www.bh.com

Preface vii

Part 1

Dictionary of Terms 1

Part 2

International Organizations 187

Part 3

National Organizations 201

Australia and New Zealand 203

North America 206

United Kingdom and Ireland 210

Part 4

Biographical Dictionary: Who Was Who 221

Part 5

Abbreviations 231

Part 6

Countries of the World 255

Part 7

Bibliography 267

Contents

Comments on earlier editions

‘An authoritative new resource ... deserving a place on many

bookshelves.’

Travel & Tourism Programme News

‘... this important contribution to the literature of the world’s

biggest industry.’

Tourism Management

‘His dictionary will, I predict, be an essential reference book on the

shelves of all tourism teaching academics, and for many of their

students it will be that invaluable support at critical moments of

confusion and uncertainty. Professor Medlik’s unique Dictionary is

very simply a good buy ...’

Tourism, The Bulletin of the Tourism Society

‘... it will become a very useful source of reference for the industry

for years to come.’

Hotel, Catering & Institutional Management Association

‘Excellent compendium for all tourism students.’

Swansea Institute of Higher Education

‘... it will provide a real service for the industry.’

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

‘This book is recommended to those in the fields of travel, tourism

and hospitality throughout the world, including those who perceive

dictionaries as dull things. This one is certainly not.’

Annals of Tourism Research

‘... an exceptional dictionary of current terms used in travel, tourism

and hospitality ... besides being an excellent authority on tourism

terms today, browsing this dictionary is a treat.’

Journal of Travel Research

‘Easy to read, well expressed, extensive, accurate.’

British Hospitality Association

‘It fills a real need ... we will certainly recommend it to students on

our business and operational management programmes.’

Hotel & Catering Training Company

vii

‘When I use a word’, Humpty Dumpty said in

a rather scornful tone, ‘it means just what I

choose it to mean – neither more nor less.’

‘The question is’, said Alice, ‘whether you

can make words mean different things.’

‘The question is’, said Humpty Dumpty,

‘which is to be the master – that’s all.’

Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

Of the three broad related fields covered by

this volume, travel is the most common activ￾ity for most people. It includes any journey

from one place to another, over short or long

distances; to, from and as part of one’s work,

during leisure and for any purpose; using any

mode of transport by air, land or sea. Those

who travel are tourists, but also commuters,

diplomats, migrants, nomads, refugees, as well

as other travellers. All tourism includes some

travel but not all travel is tourism.

For most people tourism has a connotation

of leisure travel and tends to be synonymous

with holidays (vacations). This is also reflected

in dictionaries, which commonly refer to

tourism as travel for pleasure. By contrast,

tourist boards and others concerned with the

development, marketing and coordination of

tourism in their countries tend to take a

broader view; for them tourism means travel

for most purposes, with such exceptions as

travel to work, to migrate and as part of local

and neighbourhood activities. Between these

ends of the spectrum lies business usage, the

language of those who earn their living from

serving the tourists; most of them see tourism

in terms of the products they sell and the

markets they serve. Academics are not a

homogenous breed, and between them proba￾bly cover the whole spectrum.

Travel for pleasure with an overnight stay

appears to be the lowest common denominator

of most perceptions of this activity. However,

the final test of any definition cannot be its

apparent harmony with its usage in everyday

speech or, for that matter, that the definition is

confined to what nobody would exclude.

Moreover, most accepted definitions go

beyond the concept of tourism as a leisure or

holiday activity. According to the World

Tourism Organization (WTO), tourism

comprises ‘the activities of persons travelling

to and staying in places outside their usual

environment ... for leisure, business and other

purposes’. The view taken in this Dictionary is

that conceptually tourism denotes a temporary

short-term movement of people to destinations

outside their normal environment and their

activities; within this broad concept ‘technical’

definitions are formulated for particular

purposes, to include or exclude particular trips

and visits, mainly by reference to purpose,

time and distance criteria.

Hospitality, too, is used by different people

in different ways. Common usage of the term

is reflected in dictionaries as, for example, ‘the

act or practice of being hospitable; the recep￾tion and entertainment of guests or strangers

with liberality and goodwill’ [The Shorter

Oxford English Dictionary]. In more recent years

a particular use of the term has become

evident, which denotes hospitality that is the

concern of the hospitality industry, also

sometimes referred to as ‘commercial’ or

‘professional’ hospitality: the provision of

accommodation, food and drink for people

away from home for reward. This is broadly in

line with the concept and practice of travel and

tourism in this volume, which indicates the

scope of the book in this direction.

This book was conceived in the early 1990s

to provide first and foremost clear explanations

of the meaning of the commonly used words

and phrases in travel, tourism and hospitality

for those concerned with these fields in one

way or another. This aim seemed to be

reinforced by an increasing need for a common

language in which, as in other walks of life, the

same words mean the same things when the

accuracy of expression matters, as well as by

the apparent need to promote a greater under￾Preface

Preface

viii

standing of what travel, tourism and hospital￾ity are about.

This revised and expanded edition includes

more than 4000 entries. The major part

explains terms, acronyms and abbreviations.

Other sections describe some 300 international

and national organizations, profile 100

outstanding individuals connected in some

way with travel, tourism and hospitality, and

give key data for well over 200 countries.

What is included in the Dictionary of Terms

was selected from words used in the study of

these fields, by those who work in them and

by those who take part in them as consumers.

The selection process reflects for whom the

book is intended. First, it is for academics, who

are the main propagators and communicators

of definitions, and for students, their principal

audiences; as lecturers appear to follow

increasingly their own paths rather than

particular texts, this volume may also be used

by students as a flexible textbook. Second, it is

for those employed in a wide range of travel,

tourism and hospitality businesses and organi￾zations who may need a ready source of refer￾ence in their work. Third, it should also be of

interest to a still wider audience – the

travellers, tourists and guests – who are the

focus and the raison d’être of it all – and who

may be excused for finding it sometimes diffi￾cult to understand some of the language to

which they are exposed.

For the most part the Dictionary consists of

terms of three main types. First, terms drawn

from economics, geography and other disci￾plines, mainly social sciences. Second, many

terms stem from particular industries and

occupations, especially passenger transport,

hotel and catering services, tour operations and

travel agencies. Third, the study and practice

of travel, tourism and hospitality comprises

planning and development, marketing and

organization, each with its own terminology.

The Dictionary includes many business

terms, which cover various arrangements

between parties, documents and techniques,

but generally stops short of basic accounting,

computing and statistical terminology, with

which users may be expected to be familiar or

which they may need to seek elsewhere.

Common words in ordinary everyday use are

included only if they have a specialized or

more specific meaning in travel, tourism and

hospitality than elsewhere, or if it was thought

that it might be helpful to have them explained

for other reasons. Dictionary entries extend

beyond basic definitions to include further

explanations, when considered appropriate,

and extensive cross-referencing (indicated in

bold type).

Where the lexicographer’s task is the impar￾tial recording of usage, however illogical it

may be, the province of a technical dictionary

is the selection and definition of terms with

such ends in view as contributing to more

effective communication and promoting

greater uniformity in terminology. This,

especially when combined with explanations

beyond basic definitions, also offers an oppor￾tunity of enhancing the understanding of the

subject area.

Various types of organizations ranging from

tourist boards to trade unions are explained in

the Dictionary of Terms and international and

national organizations are listed with concise

descriptions in the separate sections that

follow; the latter cover Australia and New

Zealand, North America, United Kingdom and

Ireland. For other national bodies readers are

referred to sources in particular countries.

Individuals connected with travel, tourism and

hospitality represent a new section in this

edition, and the biographies offered are

confined to those no longer alive. Country

entries show areas, populations, capitals and

currencies, as well as country and currency

codes and political status.

The bibliography lists sources used and

other known dictionaries, which provided

ideas on the approach adopted in this volume,

and their contribution is gratefully acknow￾ledged. But generally, the definitions, explana￾tions and descriptions are the author’s and his

contributors’. Hence, when information is

reproduced from the only source of that infor￾mation, the source is given, but not when it is

available from a number of sources.

Several approaches are employed through￾out to cross-referencing. First, terms repre￾sented by separate entries, when referred to

elsewhere, are printed in bold type, the main

exceptions being such frequently used terms as

travel, tourism and hospitality. Second, at the

end of many entries, the words ‘see’ and ‘see

also’ indicate clarifying or complementary

entries included elsewhere. Third, in order to

facilitate locating related terms, certain generic

words are used as headings for a list of terms;

thus, for example, an entry headed airport

terms gives cross-references to all entries

Preface

ix

concerned with airports. A complete list of

these generic terms is given on page 2.

An early idea to produce a book of this kind

came from a friend and former colleague at the

University of Surrey, John Burkart, after some

joint authorship in the 1970s, and this book

owes much to that stimulus and association. A

particular appreciation is due to a number of

people who supplied information, commented

on drafts of entries in their fields of expertise,

suggested additional entries or contributed

definitions of their own. Those who influenced

this or earlier editions in one or more ways

included:

David Airey, Professor of Tourism

Management, University of Surrey; Thomas

Bauer, Senior Lecturer, Victoria University of

Technology, Melbourne; Lester Borley, lecturer

and consultant; Nicola Burrows, Assistant

Publisher, OAG Worldwide; the late Terry

Coppock, Professor Emeritus, University of

Edinburgh; Catherine Doran, Market Research

and Planning, Irish Tourist Board; Douglas

Frechtling, Professor of Tourism Studies,

George Washington University; Rebecca

Hawkins, author and consultant; David

Jeffries, author and consultant; Brian King,

Professor, Victoria University of Technology,

Melbourne; Elaine Leek, freelance editor;

Victor Middleton, Consultant and Visiting

Professor; Philip Ogilvie, George Washington

University; Ivan Polunin, Research Fellow,

Nanyang Technological University, Singapore;

Trevor Ward, Managing Director, TRI

Hospitality Consulting, London; Stephen

Wheatcroft, Director, Aviation and Tourism

International, London; John Yacoumis, consul￾tant; more than 50 users of earlier editions.

The end product owes again much to

Margie Ward, whose word processor produced

the final copy and the disk from which the

book was typeset.

It is hoped that this volume will serve the

needs of its users as well as earlier editions

appear to have done. Suggestions for additions

and other improvements for future editions are

welcome and should be addressed to the

author, care of the publishers.

S. Medlik

Guildford 2002

Part1

Dictionary

of Terms

List of generic terms page

airport terms 10

awards 17

baggage 18

bed types/descriptions 21

bonding schemes (UK) 24

competition 40

conventions and treaties 44

employment 61

environmental issues 63

food 71

geographical names 77

holidays (vacations) forms, terms, types 85

hotel tariff terms 87

hotel types 88

instruments 93

measures 112

measures of tourism distribution and impact 112

named trains 118

nautical terms 120

occupations 123

pricing 133

rail passes 138

religions of the world 141

restaurant types 142

roads 143

room types/descriptions 144

table service 160

taxes 160

travel/tourism forms/terms/types 171

travel-related illnesses 171

DICTIONARY OF TERMS

3

à la carte menu A menu providing a choice

of items, each of which is priced separately. See

also bill of fare; table d’hôte menu.

Abacus One of the main computer reserva￾tion systems (CRS) serving the Asian and

Pacific region, established 1987 to include All

Nippon Airways, Cathay Pacific, China

Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Philippine Airlines,

Royal Brunei and Singapore Airlines as princi￾pal shareholders, with a partnership agree￾ment with the Amadeus and Worldspan

systems. See also Fantasia.

abaft A nautical term denoting stern half of

ship.

ABC Islands Term used to describe the

islands of Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao off the

north coast of South America.

abeam A nautical term denoting on a line at

right-angles to the ship’s or aircraft’s length,

i.e., at right-angles to the direction of travel.

aboard On, in or into ship, train, aircraft or

another vehicle.

abonnement Rail ticket available on the

Continent of Europe, which allows unlimited

travel within a specified area for a specific

period of time. See also rail passes.

aborigine/aboriginal One of the original

inhabitants of an area or a descendant of one,

term used to describe, e.g., a member of the

indigenous race of Australia as opposed to a

colonist. Abo is a derogatory abbreviation.

abort To cancel an aircraft take off in progress.

above-the-line advertising Term used to

describe advertising for which a commission

is normally payable by the media to advertis￾ing agencies operating on behalf of clients.

The media included are the press, television,

radio, cinema and posters. Thus, broadly

speaking, above-the-line advertising expendi￾ture is usually the responsibility of the agency.

Sometimes called media advertising. See also

below-the-line advertising.

aboyeur French term for kitchen clerk who

calls out orders from waiters to chefs and

keeps the waiters’ written orders arranged by

tables.

absorption Term used particularly in air

transport in connection with joint fares when a

carrier accepts (i.e., absorbs) for its part of a

joint fare the difference between a regular fare

and a lower fare as a result of computing a

joint fare.

ABTA Bonding Scheme Bonding scheme

operated by the UK Association of British

Travel Agents (ABTA), which requires all firms

to put up a bond as a condition of membership.

The scheme covers products and services

provided by ABTA members. For example, in

the case of ABTA tour operator failure, while on

holiday (vacation) the holidaymaker will be

rescued; if the holiday has not been started, any

money held by the ABTA tour operator or

travel agent will be returned. See bonding

schemes (UK) for other schemes.

ABTOT Bonding Scheme Bonding scheme

of the Association of Bonded Travel

Organisers’ Trust Ltd operated by Travel and

General Insurance Company, which covers all

money paid to travel organizers by holiday￾makers in the UK. See bonding schemes (UK)

for other schemes.

Acapulco Document Outcome of a meeting

convened in 1982 by the World Tourism

Organization in Acapulco, Mexico, to imple￾ment the aims agreed by the Manila

Declaration.

A

A

4 DICTIONARY OF TRAVEL, TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY

accessibility The ease of approach of a

location from other locations, one of the

prime factors which, together with its attrac￾tions and amenities (the three As), determine

how important an area may be as a tourism

destination. In tourism, accessibility is a

function of distance from centres of popula￾tion, which constitute tourist markets, and of

external transport, which enables a destina￾tion to be reached. It is measured in terms of

distance travelled, the time taken or the cost

involved.

acclimatization The process by which living

organisms, including human beings, become

accustomed to a new climate, i.e., one different

from their normal environment. Tourists vary

in their ability to acclimatize, according, i.a., to

their age, gender, body build and ethnic

origin.

accommodation

(a) See tourism accommodation

(b) See acculturation

accommodation address Address used for

receiving mail and messages, which is not the

real address where a person lives or a business

is located.

accommodation classification (Australia)

Prepared by the Australian Bureau of Statistics

(ABS), Standard Classification of Visitor

Accommodation (SCOVA) defines the full range

of accommodation types, largely for the

purpose of statistical measurement.

accompanied/unaccompanied baggage

Accompanied baggage is carried in the same

vehicle as the passenger (and may be checked

or unchecked baggage); unaccompanied

baggage is carried separately as cargo. In order

to avoid excess baggage rates, it is sometimes

cheaper for passengers to send some of their

baggage as unaccompanied baggage. For

example, airlines normally carry such baggage

at 50 per cent of cargo rates, which is often less

than half the rate charged for excess baggage,

but this is subject to particular airline and

customs regulations.

accompaniment Small helping of food

served with a dish, e.g., chutney with curry,

horseradish sauce with roast beef, red currant

jelly with venison.

accompanying person A person who

accompanies a registered delegate to a confer￾ence, who does not normally attend the

business programme but may attend the social

programme or a special programme for

accompanying persons.

accreditation

(a) Appointment or authorization to act as,

e.g., a hotel representative by a hotel

company, or a travel agent by a tour

operator or by a shipping conference. See

also agency appointment.

(b) Acknowledgement of competence or level

of training received by individuals, firms

and establishments or institutions.

acculturation A sociological term used to

describe the process and the results of interac￾tion between different cultures. The process

may involve direct contact or, e.g., exposure

through mass media. As a result, one or both

cultures are affected by assimilating new ways,

as occurs, e.g., between visitors and resident

host communities through travel and tourism.

Acculturation is also sometimes described as

accommodation or assimilation, particularly

when referring to interaction between and

integration of immigrant or ethnic groups into

receiving resident communities.

acid rain Rain contaminated by chemicals,

mainly sulphur and nitrogen oxides, released

into the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels,

especially from coal-burning industrial plants

and power stations. Acid rain is the cause of

such environmental problems as degeneration of

coniferous forest, the pollution of rivers and

lakes and a destruction of fish and other wildlife,

and damage to monuments and exteriors of

buildings. Many affected areas to be found in

various parts of Europe and in the north-eastern

United States are of tourism significance.

ACORN Acronym for A Classification of

Residential Neighbourhoods, a socio-economic

segmentation system by type of residential

area in which consumers live based on Census

of Population data. It is of particular value in

market and opinion surveys and target

marketing. Also known as a geo-demographic

segmentation (population type by location).

ACP States African, Caribbean, Pacific

independent countries, which were signatories

DICTIONARY OF TERMS

A

5

to the Lomé Conventions and eligible for assis￾tance from the European Community (EC).

There were 77 ACP States in June 2000, which

signed the Cotonou Agreement, successor to

the Lomé Conventions.

acre (a) A British unit of area measurement,

formerly denoting as much land as could be

ploughed in a day by a team of oxen, later

defined by statute as 4840 square yards (0.4

hectare). One square mile equals 640 acres.

acronym A word formed from the first letters

of other words. See, e.g., tip = To Insure

Promptitude; UNESCO = United Nations

Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organi￾zation.

acrophobia Morbid fear of heights.

act of God An event resulting from natural

causes that is not preventable by reasonable

foresight or care, such as an earthquake or

flood. See also force majeure.

activities host(ess) American term for an

entertainment organizer in a hotel, resort or on

board a cruise ship; the latter is also called

cruise director. See also animator.

activity holidays (vacations) A generic

term for holidays (vacations) based on a

particular sport, hobby or other interest, which

enable participants to pursue it as a form of

active recreation, which may but need not be

undertaken with a view to improving their

standards of performance. See also adventure

holidays (vacations); special interest holidays

(vacations).

activity rate The proportion of the population

of working age who are employed or

unemployed but seek work. In recent years in the

UK this has been above 70 per cent overall, made

up of over 80 per cent for men and over 60 per

cent for women. See also participation rate.

actual demand See demand for tourism

ad hoc charter See charter

ad valorem ‘According to value’, term used as

an adjective in conjunction with taxes, duties

and similar payments, denoting that they are

levied in proportion to the value as, e.g., is

value added tax (VAT), and not as a fixed

amount as, e.g., is normally a departure tax.

adaptation In sociology, term used to

describe the process of psychological reaction

whereby individuals or groups accept and

adjust themselves to fit into novel or unfamil￾iar environments, as occurs, e.g., between

tourists and host communities.

additional holiday (vacation) Term used in

some holiday (vacation) surveys, e.g., British

National Travel Survey (BNTS), to distinguish

between main holiday (vacation) and others,

when more than one holiday (vacation) is taken

by respondents during the year, an important

trend in most developed countries. See also

holiday (vacation) frequency; holiday

(vacation) propensity, gross.

add-on Extra, that for which an additional

charge is made as, e.g.: (a) an optional item,

which may but need not be bought by the

customer, such as sightseeing as part of an

inclusive tour (see also option); (b) an item not

included in the advertised price, which must

be bought by the customer, such as travel

insurance specified by the tour operator.

add-on fare Additional air fare to construct a

through fare when, e.g., fare to/from a partic￾ular point is not published or when a domes￾tic fare is combined with an international fare.

adjoining rooms Rooms in a hotel or

another building adjacent to each other

without direct access between them. See also

connecting rooms.

admission The ticket price charged for

entrance by a facility such as a tourist/visitor

attraction.

admissions

(a) The number of people entering a

tourist/visitor attraction or facility over a

given period of time.

(b) The amount of entry fees to a

tourist/visitor attraction or facility over a

given period of time.

Adult and Continuing Education Term

covering a broad spectrum of educational

activities, in the UK ranging from non￾vocational courses of general interest, through