The academic study of tourism is relatively young (Echtner & Jamal, 1997): related terms (such as “tourism” and “tourists”) first appeared in the early nineteenth century (Smith, 1988). Tourism research evolved thereafter and now fits into numerous domains (Echtner & Jamal, 1997). The field is inherently multidisciplinary (Tribe, 1997), dating back to its roots primarily in such fields as economics, sociology, anthropology, and others (Kozak & Kozak, 2016). Considering the area’s multi- faceted nature, tourism scholars began to ask the question “What is tourism?” after identifying it as a globalized phenomenon with evident socioeconomic importance worldwide (Darbellay & Stock, 2012; Smith, 1988).