A number of words are used to define activities related to tourism. Unfortunately they are used improperly or distorted for advertising and hardly correspond to the concepts or experiences associated initially with their use. Here under we provide their exact meaning.

Integrated Tourism is related to forms of tourism experimented at Casamance (Senegal, Africa) in the seventies (see Rural Integrated Tourism). Activities are "integrated" into local life and put to the service of development, contrary to current practices where local communities are at the service of tourism. Forerunner of sustainable tourism, it is opposed to Enclaved Tourism which is imposed on an existing environment often completely destroyed. Examples of this kind are seaside tourism and skiing.

Individual Tourism can be organised by a travel agency or improvised according to the tourist's wish. Its qualities depend on the person undertaking the trip. It makes use of the same infrastructure as that of mass tourism. It is said that "25 individual tourists cause more damage than a group of 25 tourists".

Mass tourism: this kind is not related to a particular practice but concerns the use of heavy infrastructure (airports, road network, hotels, centres for various activities) whose impact on the region is irreversible. It brings about chain reactions: urbanization, influx of poor population, desocialisation, delinquency, prostitution. Commercial interests of the travel agencies and the pleasure of the tourist gain importance over protection of the environment and long term interest of local communities. Even the tourist with the best of intentions cannot avoid using structures of mass tourism at least for one part of his trip.

Social Tourism began to develop after the Second World War to allow more number of people to holiday and travel. Colonies and vacation centres are linked to mass tourism. Originally it meant being in tune with the environment of the destination. This concept came well before tourism in foreign countries developed. It hardly contributes (as it claims) in making tourists as world citizens.

Adventure Tourism uses less frequented places. It is done in small groups in rudimentary and protected conditions. This kind of tourism is onerous.

Cultural Tourism very often gives importance to images or accounts of the past in relation to the dynamics of the present. It isolates facts and places lived by people and therefore the latter are often reduced to being mere objects of consumption. Similarly, Nature Tourism (or Eco-Tourism) very often promotes observation of nature in tourist complexes that do not really respect the environment. It also uses the local population towards its own ends.

Sustainable Tourism (this term was an outcome of the Earth Summit in Rio in 1992) advocates a tourism that contributes to the development of environmental and human balance. Its aim is to ensure "sustainability" of the location and its resources in close collaboration with the local population, and in the interest of future generations. There is a tendency to appropriate this term for publicity purposes.

Equitable Tourism is a more recent concept that refers to "equitable trade" where the relation between the producer and the consumer is such that middlemen are under vigilance. In this way the "producer" (host country) gains an equitable remuneration and it reduces hazards of trade between rich consumer regions and poor dependent producers". To adapt the notion of equitability in tourism is rather difficult due to the complexity of the tourism market that cannot be reduced to a simple transaction between producers and consumers. The "product" (which can often be just a free landscape or an imported leisure activity) itself is rather complex.

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