Understanding the Tertiary Sector: Trade, Services, and Tourism

Posted on Mar 5, 2025 in Economy

Tertiary Sector: Key Concepts and Definitions

Causes of Growth in the Tertiary Sector

  1. Increased Purchasing Power: Rising incomes have led to increased consumption.
  2. Welfare State Expansion: Progress in the welfare state has increased demand for services.
  3. Social and Demographic Changes: Urbanization and the incorporation of women into the labor market have increased the demand for services.

Defining the Tertiary Sector

The Tertiary sector comprises economic activities focused on providing services of all kinds.

Trade

Trade: The exchange of goods, capital, and services.

Types of Trade

  • Retail: Selling goods to final consumers.
  • Wholesale: Distributing products between producers and retailers.
  • Internal Trade: Trade in goods and services among residents of the same country.

Public Services

Public services are those directly dependent on state, local, or regional governments.

Finance and Economics

  • Fee: Official rate determining customs duties for imports.
  • Balance of Trade: The difference between a country’s imports and exports of goods. A deficit occurs when imports exceed exports, and a surplus occurs in the opposite case.
  • Stock Market: A physical location and market where securities transactions are conducted, determining supply and demand prices.
  • Currency: Foreign currency refers to the monetary unit of a country.

Tourism

  • Tourist Season: A period defined by a concentration of passenger flow in certain months, influenced by factors like climate and school holidays.
  • Exports: Goods and services sold to other countries.
  • Imports: Goods and services that a country buys from other countries.
  • Hinterland: The economic catchment area near a port or airport.

Types of Tourism

  • Cultural Tourism: Tourism focused on urban centers, venues, fairs, and heritage sites.
  • Sun and Sand Tourism: Predominant in coastal areas with sunny weather and mild temperatures, offering shopping and leisure facilities.
  • Rural Tourism: Tourism that supports new initiatives in depressed and depopulated areas, often utilizing renovated old facilities.

Business Structures

  • Hotel Chain: A group of hotels and catering facilities organized within the same company.
  • Franchise: Rights granted for the exploitation of a product or activity by a company to one or more persons in a given area.

Market Structures

  • Oligopoly: A market situation where supply is concentrated in a small number of producers.
  • Monopoly: A market situation where supply is concentrated in a single producer.

Organizations

  • OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries): An international body created to unify policies of member countries to defend the interests of producing nations, agreeing on prices and production levels.

Transportation

  • High-Speed Network: Rail infrastructure built for higher speeds, following special design and safety conditions.
  • Network Transport: Enables the movement of people and goods, including means of transport, infrastructure, and transported goods and products.

Financial Transactions

  • Balance of Payments: Includes all transfers made between a country and other countries in a year, composed of the balance of trade in services, transfers, capital investments, and buying property.

Tour Operators

  • Tour operator: Wholesaler intermediaries between the travel agency and tourist establishment that manufactures and comprehensive program offered by the agency and is selling it to tourists.