Distinction between Traveler, Visitor, Tourist, Excursionist and Transit Visitor/Transient are given below:
The Traveller:
The appellation traveller is generic in the sense that it is relevant to any form of movement of a person irrespective of the distance travelled i.e., ranging from a small distance of only few kilometers to an immigrant going for long-haul travel with the purpose of seeking employment or even to move to the place visited.
That is, the term refers to a person travelling from place to place without any consideration of his motive, duration of stay, the remunerative activity involved or not or return to the place of origin.
Image Source: nunomad.com
The Visitor:
A visitor is also a traveller who sojourns a place or country ordinarily outside his typical beat area for non-immigration and non-remunerative purposes, whose movement is of pro tern nature as finally he comes round again to the place of origin i.e., the place from where he at first embarked upon his trip.
The Tourist:
A tourist is a visitor who is motivated to travel put side his ‘beat area’ for recreation, pleasure, health, study, sports, business, family and so forth; stays for at least 24 hours at the place of visit, does not involve in any remunerative activity and in due time returns to his place of domicile. It implies that all tourists are travellers/ visitors but all travellers/visitors are not tourists. On top of tha it is a fact that all visitors are firstly travellers but the vice-versa may not hold good.
The Excursionist: An excursionist is different from a tourist in terms of duration of stay at the destination as his period of stay at the place of visit is less than 24 hours. However, it is also true that an excursionist is essentially a traveller and a visitor.
Transit Visitor/Transient:
A traveller and a visitor who goes past a country or place without having a stop over or breaking off his journey on the way other than for layover and for transportation links. Alternatively, a person, moving past a country and while it may take more than 24 hours in the process, would not be considered as a tourist or excursionist if his destination is a different country and is just passing through the in-between country owing to transport ties.
