Tourism as a Social Experience System: Social and Philosophical Analysis

The research area presently does not have a unified theoretical and methodological approach to feasibility demonstration of tourism phenomenon in general and tourism phenomenon as a social practice system in particular, while the range and the rate of social changes of the modern world highlights the need to validate these definitions. The article attempts to analyze social and philosophical aspects of tourism being a social practice system (social and space arrangement of social and cultural environment) within the limits of anthropological, semiotic, communicative, spatial and economic approach. The authors define ‘tourism’ via its ontological nature and demonstrate tourism phenomenon nature as a social experience, social and cultural phenomenon that involves both activity and value substance at the same time. Social experience support a person to be engaged in self-realization in a specific social state, facilitate social integration and self-identification processes, disclose the main ways of social existence, possible in a specific culture at a specific period of time. Social and cultural experience of a tourist allows structuring his social experience in building of new types of relationships between himself and the locals, employees of tourism and hospitality industry, as well as other tourists. Application of social and philosophical approach allows defining and analyzing tourism as an integral social and cultural phenomenon as a method to construct space at the level of society individual; detailing and outlining tourism phenomenon aspects’ impact as a typical phenomenon of globalization era in the modern social continuum.