Tourism as a human activity and as a separate industry is nothing but selling services to the end consumers. These services are called tourist services.
In the wide sense any tourist service may be regarded as a certain tourist product, i.e. the result of labor having a certain use value.
Tourist services are an expedient production activity designed to satisfy the needs of tourists which, as a rule, doesn’t
have any particular material shape. According to this definition all such services may be defined as an invisible product of a certain nature. They may include the following services: accommodation, transportation of tourists from their place of residence to the place of sojourn; providing meals to tourists, satisfaction of cultural needs of tourists (this may include excursions, visiting theaters, concert halls, museums, nature reserves, festivals, sports competitions and so on); satisfaction of business and scientific needs (participation in congresses, conferences, meetings, seminars, exhibitions); information services (informing tourists about the attractions of the region, custom formalities, exchange rates, types of transport, prices and so on); communication services (internet, telephone, fax); organizational services (registration of passports, visas, insurance, etc.); trading enterprises; intermediary services (reservation of tickets, delivery of correspondence); personal services (dry-cleaning etc.), health-improving services.
