Tourist activity in the context of this article refers to a destination product or service involving public or private assets. Decisions regarding the efficient use of these products or services involve market organisation, financial capacity and user preferences. Information is taken from data collected during a household tourism survey carried out by the National Statistics Department in seven principal cities. Variables such as age, gender, economic activity and income were analysed as part of the behavioural study of tourism demand. The above variables were chosen as they are considered to influence financial capacity for different types of tourism and products available on the market.The main assumptions in the study are: the head of household makes the decisions about the trip, therefore it is the statistical unit of analysis; travel costs do not necessarily depend on the duration of the trip but on financial capacity and tourist preferences; implicit prices can be defined from estimated characteristics of each destination (location) and number of trips, giving each a relative weighting; decisions related to the quality of the trip are simultaneous to those related to destination and quantity of trips taken per year.The study includes an analysis of the following aspects: main reasons behind the trip, average number of nights spent by travelers, average number of journeys by inhabitants of principal cities to nearby locations, distribution of tourist spending, traveler preferences according to season, tourist products and destinations according to national and international supply. Results indicate that choice of trip is significantly influenced by the profile of the head of household, purchasing power if employed, and role within the family structure.Another significant result of this study was the construction of a “package of tourist services” based on the results of the above mentioned survey. This “package” is constructed by analysing spending structure according to consumption by Colombian residents when traveling. The distribution of spending was calculated for the following aspects: accommodation, transport, food and beverages, recreation, purchase of souvenirs, culture and others. If this analysis holds true with time, then the national tourism industry will have a new tool for measuring the industry’s impact and evolution within the national economy.