turista

Turista is a term used in Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and other Romance languages to describe a person who travels for pleasure or sightseeing, usually for a limited period. A turista is typically a visitor whose main purpose is recreation rather than work or long-term residence. In everyday usage the word denotes someone exploring a place, visiting attractions, and experiencing local culture as a guest of the destination. The English equivalent is tourist.

The word is borrowed from French touriste, formed from tour (a journey) with the suffix -iste. It spread through European languages during the 19th century as organized travel and holidays became more common. In many languages it is essentially gender-neutral in everyday use, with plural forms corresponding to the standard plural of the noun (for example, turistas in Spanish and Portuguese).

In tourism studies and discourse, turistas are often distinguished from other traveler types, such as business travelers, backpackers, or long-term residents. The concept also intersects with discussions of mass tourism, cultural exchange, and sustainable travel, focusing on how visitors interact with destinations, how sites are managed, and how travel behavior affects communities and environments.

Turista can also appear in popular culture and travel writing as a label for outsiders or visitors encountering a place for the first time, sometimes carrying connotations about expectations, itineraries, or the tourist gaze.