(516) Word / Inbound [英単語]
1. Inbound: inward bound
My friend asked me about NOBORI and KUDARI the other day. She is learning Japanese. In her Japanese class, NOBORI is explained as inbound, KUDARI is outbound. So, I added that the NOBORI train is the one headed for Tokyo, and the KUDARI train is going out of it. Then she seemed to understand better about these Japanese words.
These words "inbound" and "outbound" reminded me of my short trip to Boston and New York. It was five years ago. I took a train of Boston Subway to visit a Toastmasters Club at Natic. I participated Toastmasters@Mathwork with my daughter as guests. I saw the words "inbound" and "outbound" on the train map. I could guess inbound means towards Boston. I was right.
Inbound, in most cases, will mean the trains going towards Boston - or going towards the metro Boston. On the other hand, outbound means going out of it.
2. INBAUNDO in Japanese
I knew that Japanese word "INBAUNDO" seemed to be used as "Foreign tourists visiting Japan" or "Travel to Japan by foreigners". But I didn't get the reason why. Every time Japanese people say "INBOUNDO" I became uncomfortable. I tried finding the English dictionaries explaining that "inbound" means "Travel to Japan by foreigners". But I failed in vain, to find such a meaning.
I asked the same friend, who asked me about "NOBORI and KUDARI", if "inbound" means something like "Foreign tourists visiting Japan". She didn't get my question and looked puzzled. At that time, I knew Japanese "INBAUNDO" doesn't have the same meaning of the English word "inbound".
I knew the origin of Japanese word "INBAUNDO" in a dictionary of New Japanese Words! The dictionary says "INBAUNDO" is a loanword from "inbound touring".
Weblio 新語時事用語辞典
インバウンド
英語：inbound
インバウンドの意味、語源
インバウンド（英：inbound）とは、主に日本の観光業界において「外国人の日本旅行（訪日旅行）」あるいは「訪日外国人観光客」などの意味で用いられる語。インバウンドは、英語のinboundに由来する語である。英語のinboundは「内側」を意味する接頭語in-と「～行き」を意味する語boundから成り立つ形容詞で、「本国行きの」「市内へ向かう」といった意味がある。
Trave to Japan by foreigners
Foreign tourists visiting Japan
「本国行きの」という意味の「inbound」と「旅行・観光」を意味する「touring（ツーリング）」で「インバウンド・ツーリング」という言葉が元々上記の意味でしたが、それが省略され「インバウンド」単体でも同じ意味でつかわれるようになりました。
inbound touring
3. Explaining "inbound tourism"
How to use "inbound" and "outbound"
I continued to look for the meaning "inbound touring". I came across a site explaining "inbound tourism"
Dr Hayley Stainton says in her site, "Tourism Teacher";
Inbound tourism can be defined as:
'The act of travelling to another country for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business or other purposes'.
So, according to this definition, I can be a Japanese inbound tourist when I visit Spain, for example.
China produces one of the largest outbound tourism markets in the world and Chinese tourists tend to spend more on their holidays than any other nationality.
Therefore, many countries want to attract Chinese inbound tourists due to the economic value of this market.
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