The Role of Neologisms in the Development of Modern English Tourism Terminology

The rapid transformation of the global tourism industry has influenced the lexical composition of modern English, contributing to the emergence and dissemination of new terminology. The structural, semantic, functional, and sociocultural roles of neologisms in English tourism terminology are examined through descriptive, word-formation, semantic, and contextual analysis. Particular attention is given to expressions such as bleisure, workation, overtourism, undertourism, coolcation, and regenerative tourism. The analysis suggests that these lexical innovations not only designate emerging tourism practices but also facilitate the categorization of tourist experiences, the communication of environmental concerns, and the development of professional and promotional discourse. A five-stage interpretive model is proposed to explain the process through which lexical innovations may evolve from responses to social change into established terminological units. The study adopts a qualitative and illustrative approach rather than a corpusbased methodology. Accordingly, no claims are made regarding the earliest attestations of the terms or their measured frequencies of use.