Definition: Visitor

Category: Tourism

Any person travelling to a place other than that of his/her usual environment for less than 12 months and whose main purpose of trip is other than the exercise of an activity remunerated from within the place visited.

Visitors (domestic/international) comprise:

Tourists: Visitors who stay at least one night in a collective or private accommodation in the place/country visited.
and
Same-day visitors:Visitors who do not spend the night in a collective or private accommodation in the place/country visited.

The three fundamental criteria that are used to distinguish visitors from other travellers are as follows:

(i) The trip should be to a place other than that of the usual environment, which would exclude short-distance local transport and commuting, i.e. more or less regular trips between the place of work/study and the place of residence.
(ii) The stay in the place visited should not last more than 12 consecutive months, beyond which the visitor would become a resident of that place (from the statistical standpoint).
(iii) The main purpose of the visit should be other than the exercise of an activity remunerated from within the place visited, which would exclude migratory movements for work purposes. http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:1999:009:0023:0047:EN:PDF