Types of excursions in tourism

The excursion is a method of expanding the horizons. The purpose of attending this event is to gain knowledge about a particular subject, place or event. In view of the breadth of the concept of excursion, there are many types of excursions into which they are subdivided according to certain characteristic features.

What is an excursion

The word "excursion" appeared from Latin and means it's a walk or a trip. This term means an individual walk or a trip to remarkable places of interest from a scientific, cognitive or entertainment point of view. Three elements are involved in the excursion: a guide, an excursionist and an object (or object) of the excursion.

The object of the excursion is an object or phenomenon that represents historical, cultural, aesthetic or scientific value. Visiting the place of interest is supervised by a guide. This is a qualified specialist who is able to give detailed information about the object to the excursionist. One or more sightseers take part in the inspection of the facility, depending on the type of excursion.

The purpose of the tour determines its direction. Often the trip is entertaining. Such trips are an integral part of tourism activities. Otherwise, the excursion becomes an educational event.

An important distinctive feature of the excursion is the opportunity to contemplate the object and receive information about it. Without contemplation, the excursion becomes a lecture, without an informative aspect, the tour will become an inspection.

History

To the first excursions, according to many historians, it is possible to carry pilgrimage to holy places. To excursions of a sporting nature, the Olympics in Ancient Greece are ranked. But only at the beginning of the twentieth century excursion activity became an independent direction. The development of transport routes, tourism in many ways contributed to this. The upper classes were able to travel freely to different corners of the world, and also send their children to study in other countries.

Simultaneously with the travels, they began to conduct educational excursions with children. Their main goal was to acquaint students with the environment, that is, there were various types of excursions to nature. At the same time the profession of "guide" was born. Active development of excursion activity has caused the formation of various companies engaged in organizing and conducting excursions.

Classification

Currently, for the classification of such activities use the signs highlighted by the scientist-excursionist BE Raikov, who is the founder of excursion work. Excursions are divided into types and forms depending on the following characteristics:

• Content.
• Composition and number of excursionists.
• The place where the excursion is held.
• Way of moving the excursion group.
• Duration of the event.
• The form of the excursion.

Each of the above types of excursions has individual features and characteristics.

Goals of classification

The need for classification of excursion activities arose for many reasons. The main one is simplification in the preparation and development of excursion activities. When drawing up a plan for walking, it is important to consider that it should not only be cognitive, but also bring positive emotions. Therefore, for an effective excursion, it is not enough to know the subject of the show.

The guide should be well-oriented in the location of the walk, choose the points of the best view. The excursion should have a certain plot, which, when talking about the object directly, will be supplemented with interesting facts and inclusion of the object's connections with famous personalities or significant events.

In the case of a long walk, the guide should provide for several breaks in the story for the group's rest. For certain types of excursions (in primary school, for people with disabilities), it is necessary to take into account the characteristics of the group.

Content

The content of the excursion divides it into two types: overview and thematic. A sightseeing tour is a type of excursion, the content is multifaceted. Sightseeing tours are usually conducted to describe a city, region, enterprise or natural site. Such excursions have a certain structure. The object overview has several themes and sub-themes, illuminating the large time span over which the object exists, and linking the object to various historical events.

For example, when reviewing a city, an architectural subtopic includes a description of the features of town planning, natural history - tells about the flora and fauna of the area. It should be noted that each of the sub-themes can be a topic for a separate excursion. A sightseeing tour is one of the most common types of excursions in tourism.

Types of thematic excursions

Thematic walks reveal one specific topic. Such excursions are of six kinds, each of which has narrower directions:

1. Historical is devoted to one or several historical events, and the story is limited to the time frame of these events. The historical and local lore direction describes the history of the area, the events occurring in the given area at different intervals of time, gives an idea of the formation of the object of the excursion. The archaeological direction in the excursion is a visit to ancient and medieval monuments. Military-historical - tells about the military operations. Ethnographic - a description of customs and traditions. The historical and biographical direction tells about a historically significant person. A separate area is visiting historical museums.
2. Quite often there are production types of excursions in school, especially in high school. The purpose of such events is a story about the work of enterprises. This species has three directions. The historical direction tells about the history of the establishment of the enterprise, economic - about the specifics and organization of the economic aspects of the activity, technical - includes directly demonstrating the working capacities.
3. The nature excursion gives an idea of the biosphere of the studied area and has the following directions: biological, zoological, geological, ecological.
4. Art critics are dedicated to a certain kind of art. The direction of such an excursion is directly connected with that described kind of art. It can be a theatrical, musical, cinematographic direction. Also, such excursions include visits to artists 'and sculptors' studios, museum museum houses and so on.
5. Literary excursion has a biographical - about the life and work of a writer, historical - about the development of a literary genre or about the characteristics of literary activity at different intervals, the artistic direction - walks in places described in literary works.
6. Architectural and town planning excursion can be aimed at describing the life and activities of the architect, visiting architectural objects and monuments of architecture.

Location

The venue divides the excursion into five main types. The city tour can be both overview and thematic. For example, architectural and town planning excursion, telling about the peculiarities of erection of buildings in a certain era and demonstrating the corresponding objects of construction, is urban.

To country walks is the visit of unique natural objects or park ensembles. The distance to the end point of the excursion is rarely more than one hundred kilometers. There are several subtypes of this walk:

• Excursion events are held at the final point of travel;
• In addition to reviewing the endpoint, the story is conducted throughout the entire journey;
• The excursion is carried out during the trip and is accompanied by the display of objects.

The museum kind of excursion is, as a rule, art criticism. The subject of the museum excursion depends on the visited exposition. Complex excursions include a combination of several venues.

Duration

According to the initial division of excursions, introduced by Raikov, BE, the duration of the excursion was divided into three periods: one day, several days, one day with an overnight stay. However, at present, such a division has lost its relevance, since instead of many-day excursions, weekend tours are held. The tour consists of several days and includes several excursions.

Form of conduct

There are following types of excursions:

1. Massovka. In the days of the Soviet Union, the so-called processions with placards and banners were called. Today, this is a massive trip of large groups of tourists. For example, it can be a suburban thematic walk on several buses, each with a tour guide.
2. Walking. As a rule, they are of a nature nature and combine in themselves familiarity with the object and rest.
3. Lecture. During the excursion-lecture, the narrative part predominates over the show. Similar lectures are of different subjects. The most common are these types of excursions in training.
4. Concert. This is a tour of the musical direction. It includes listening to music.
5. Performance. At the heart of such an excursion is a work of fiction.

List of participants

The composition and number of tourists is another indicator that classifies excursions to the main species. By the number of participants they are divided into individual and group. Individuals are held for one excursionist, group ones are for a group. The composition of participants may include different strata of the population and different age groups. In addition, the sightseeing group can be visiting tourists or locals.

Way to travel

Excursion group can be on foot or move on any transport. The advantages of walking are the free choice of pace necessary for a quality inspection of objects.

A guided tour provides a comprehensive overview of the facilities. As a transport, as a rule, a bus is chosen. The pluses of the trip also include the possibility of choosing the most suitable for viewing the angle and the possibility of inspecting the object without leaving the transport. Such positive moments are especially appreciated in the case of an excursion for the elderly, preschool children and people with disabilities.

Specialized Excursions

In addition to the types of excursions included in the generally accepted classification, there is a separate group of specialized excursions. As a rule, they are conducted for the training or testing of knowledge of students or employees of the company organizing such events.

Often, organizations that conduct excursions, conduct specialized courses for their potential employees. Excursions of educational nature are one of the directions of such courses. They are conducted for students of excursion activities with a view to demonstrating the techniques and techniques of walking.

Trial excursion is a method of checking the qualifications of employees or evaluating potential employees. It can be the final exam for students of training courses. As excursionists are qualified specialists who conduct an assessment of the skills of the guide.