The concept of the enclave is used in everyday language to describe a wide range of social, cultural, political, and economic phenomena, while, in geographical terms, it emphasizes the distinction between an entity and its surrounding environment. Introduced into diplomatic discourse from French, its earliest appearance in international documents dates back to the Treaty of Madrid of 1526. Within the framework of political geography, an enclave is defined as a foreign territory entirely surrounded by the territory of another state. Etymologically, the term derives from the Latin words inclavatus ("to lock") and clavis ("key"). In contemporary languages, it appears as die Enklave in German, enclave in Italian, French, and Spanish, анклав (anklav) in Russian, and anklav in Turkish, where it denotes an "isolated" or "enclosed area." Beyond its geographical and political meanings, the concept of the ethnic enclave has also emerged. Most commonly, an ethnic enclave refers to a cultural space or community inhabited by a distinct ethnic group and differentiated from the surrounding cultural environment. Ghettos, Little Italies, and Chinatowns are frequently cited as representative examples of this category.

Enclave tourism is understood as a form of tourism in which all the needs of tourists are met within geographically isolated holiday resorts. The most prominent example of this approach is the "all-inclusive" holiday system developed during the 1960s and 1970s under the "club holiday" concept introduced by the French company Club Méditerranée, established after the Second World War. As a packaging system, this model incorporates airfare, transfers, accommodation, food and beverages, sports, and entertainment services into a single package. All included services are arranged in advance and paid for at a fixed price. Also known as the package tour system, this model became widely adopted within the framework of mass tourism from the 1990s onward. By eliminating concerns about additional expenditures during the holiday, this form of tourism became particularly popular in the Caribbean, where it shaped the operational structure of many resorts. However, because bookings are made in tourists' home countries, visitors rarely leave the resort, while imported goods and services increase, resulting in only a limited contribution to the host economy. Moreover, local communities often derive little financial benefit from tourism, and since such packages are generally preferred by lower-income tourists, their capacity to enhance local welfare remains limited. From a social perspective, enclave tourism has also been criticized for failing to generate the intercultural interaction and mutual understanding traditionally associated with tourism.

In addition, enclave tourism is preferred because it provides tourists with all the services they require, while tourism professionals deliver these services in an integrated manner within a confined, isolated, and secure environment. In settings such as holiday villages, resorts, and cruise ships, tourists enjoy a comfortable and safe vacation with minimal interaction with the surrounding environment. This integrated structure is particularly attractive in destinations where security concerns prevail, as uncertainties and risks are minimized and tourist mobility is regulated through guides or resort policies. Consequently, tourists experience a safer and less stressful holiday through predictable and well-organized programs. These holiday villages, often described as "leisure camps," offer a comprehensive vacation experience extending beyond accommodation to include swimming pools, bars, restaurants, private beaches, landscaped gardens, and various sports facilities. This comfortable environment simultaneously facilitates security through spatial control. Furthermore, elements such as hygiene, service quality, and time management can be more effectively monitored. Enclave spaces therefore stand out as destinations where the economic dimension of tourism is prioritized while tourists' expectations of comfort and security are fulfilled. Such spaces are specifically designed for tourists, and the experiences they offer are generally predictable, functioning as extensions of tourists' comfort zones. Guided tours may also be regarded as components of these enclosed environments because they impose certain limitations on tourists' movements and experiences. Tour guides, for example, direct visitors toward specific viewpoints or recommend ideal locations for taking photographs. In this sense, tourists' experiences are, to some extent, structured and constrained by the tour guide. In recent years, destinations such as Baarle-Hertog (Belgium), Cooch Behar (India), Zanzibar (Tanzania), Hurghada (Egypt), and Mallorca (Spain) have experienced significant growth in enclave tourism.

Tourism is widely regarded as an important driver of economic development in many countries around the world. However, in host communities throughout the Global South—including developing regions of Africa, Latin America, Asia, and the Middle East—enclave tourism, concentrated in large hotels and cruise ports primarily for security reasons, has been widely criticized because of its limited contribution to national and local economies.

Enclave tourism is a form of tourism that develops within peripheral economies and is largely shaped by the control of foreign investors. Tourists are transported directly from international transport terminals to luxury hotels and holiday enclaves (closed-circuit vacation areas). Transportation, organization, and accommodation are predominantly managed by large tourism enterprises. The needs and economic capacities of local populations are frequently overlooked; the services provided remain beyond their financial reach, while the foreign exchange generated contributes only marginally to regional development. For this reason, enclave tourism has also been described as a form of "internal colonialism." Within this system, natural resources are mobilized primarily for the benefit of tourists, whereas local communities derive only limited benefits from tourism activities. Rather than reducing socio-economic inequalities in developing countries, tourism becomes dependent upon the demands of developed nations and may even reinforce these disparities. Controlled largely by affluent groups, this form of tourism weakens reciprocal interaction between foreign investors and local communities, thereby generating dissatisfaction and social alienation. At the same time, it limits alternative forms of tourism—such as half-board holidays—that encourage tourists to spend money within local businesses, further reducing the economic benefits accruing to host destinations.

This practice is characterized as a model in which tourist facilities establish a closed economic and cultural system. Within this approach, virtually all tourists' needs—including accommodation, food and beverage services, and entertainment—are satisfied within the resort itself, thereby minimizing both economic and cultural interaction with local communities. Resort management deliberately discourages tourists from patronizing local businesses in order to maximize profit margins. Consequently, tourism revenues fail to circulate within the local economy and instead remain concentrated within the resort facilities. Local residents are typically employed in low-paid seasonal positions, whereas managerial and higher-income posts are occupied by national elites or foreign personnel. As a result, tourism profits accumulate not only in tourist-generating countries but also among national and local elites. Culturally, interaction between tourists and local residents remains limited, and resorts become "symbols of foreign affluence amidst local poverty." Owing to this structural characteristic, enclave tourism, although capable of increasing visitor numbers and foreign exchange earnings in the short term, is ultimately regarded as a model of development that undermines local economic growth and reinforces long-term dependency.

Enclave tourism is particularly common in destinations perceived as culturally unfamiliar and associated with inadequate transportation infrastructure, questionable hygiene standards, and potential security risks. In other words, the conditions prevailing in many developing destinations, together with the perceptions that influence tourists' destination choices, have been among the principal factors contributing to the emergence and continued preference for enclave tourism.