Geographically defined area from which tourists of a destination originate. These can be countries (source country), regions or even places. As a rule, different source markets must be treated differently by the respective destination management in the context of marketing, as different spatial distances, cultural distances and socio-demographic compositions of the respective populations lead to different target groups and the specific approaches required in each case.
Source: Fuchs, W. (2021). Tourism, hotels and gastronomy from A to Z. Walter de Gruyter.