Critical Debates In Tourism

The book is a landmark volume which examines perplexing tourism debates such as the relevance of mass tourism, climate change, authenticity, tourism and poverty and slow tourism. Multidisciplinary in content, it covers applied aspects of sociology, anthropology, humanities and biosciences. The book is unique in its presentation and style and will be an essential resource for scholars, academics and practitioners.

New approaches to tourism study demonstrate a notable ‘critical turn’ – a shift in thought that emphasises interpretative and critical modes of tourism inquiry. The chapters in this volume reflect this emerging critical school of tourism studies and represent a coordinated effort of tourism scholars whose work engages innovative research methodologies. Since such work has been dispersed across a variety of tourism-related and other research fields, this book responds to a pressing need to consolidate recent advances in a single text. Adopting a broad definition of ‘criticality’, the contributors seek to find ‘fresh’ ways of theorising tourism by locating the phenomenon in its wider political, economic, cultural and social contexts. The collection addresses the power relations underpinning the production of academic knowledge; presents a range of qualitative data collection methods which confront the field’s dominant (post)positivist approaches; foregrounds the emotional dynamics of research relations and explores the personal, the political and the situated nature of research journeys. The book has been divided into two parts, with the essays in the first part establishing a context-specific framework for engaging philosophical and theoretical debates in contemporary tourism enquiry. The second set of essays then present, discuss and critique specific methodologies, research techniques, methods of interpretation and writing strategies, all of which are in some sense illustrative of ‘critical’ tourism research. Contributors range from postgraduate students to established academics and are drawn from both the geopolitical margins and the ‘powerbases’ of the tourism academy. Their various relationships with the English-speaking academy thus range from relative ‘outsider’ to well-positioned ‘insider’ and as a result, their essays are reflective of a range of locations within the complexly spun web of academic power relations and social divisions.

In today’s increasingly complex tourism environment, decision-making requires a rounded, well-informed view of the whole. Critical distance should be encouraged, consultation and intellectual rigour should be the norm amongst managers and there needs to be a radical shift in our approach to educating future tourism and hospitality managers and researchers. This second edition intends to move the debate forward by exploring how critical tourism inquiry can make a difference in the world, linking tourism education driven by the values of empowerment, partnership and ethics to policy and practice. This volume is designed to enable its reader to think through vital concepts and theories relating to tourism and hospitality management, stimulate critical thinking and use multidisciplinary perspectives. The book is organized around three key ways of producing social change in and through tourism: critical thinking, critical education and critical action. Part one focuses on the importance of critical thinking in tourism research and deals with two key topics of our academic endeavours (i) tourism epistemology and theoretical and conceptual developments; (ii) research entanglements, knowledge production and reflexivity. Part two considers ‘the university as a site for activism’ by mapping out the moral, academic and practical role of educators in developing ethical and responsible graduates and explores the student experience. The final part attempts to provide new understandings of the ways in which social justice and social transformation can be achieved in and through tourism. This timely and thought provoking book which collectively questions tourism’s current and future role in societal development is essential reading for students, researchers and academics interested in Tourism & Hospitality.

The book entitled “Current Debates In Tourism & Development Studies” includes 10 chapters written by researchers in the field of tourism and development. It is divided into four themes, each theme exploring current tourism and development issues that are of critical importance. The key themes of the book concern transforming tourism-resident perception (theme 1), alternative tourism (theme 2), event tourism and destination image (theme 3), and development studies (theme 4). The book has following specific objectives: (a) to identify and analyze the current debates of tourism; (b) to examine current key tourism trends, issues and challenges; (c) to provide compherensive review of tourism and development over the years; (d) to implement rural development, behavioral economics and demographic divident and economic growth issues. It is our strong believe that these chapters will contribute to the understanding of current debates in tourism and development. Furthermore, each chapter in the book will make a significant platform for both tourism industry and academia.

As interest in environmental sustainability grows, this successful text has been fully revised and updated in order to show how tourism is currently reshaping human and physical environments around the world.

This book explores the relation between tourism and development and covers an array of diverse issues in a contemporary economic, socio-cultural and political context. The book offers a critical debate regarding the existing understanding of a global tourism system and warns against generalizations about the impact of tourism on the global economy. It provides overall insights into the trends affecting tourism development including where we are headed, what are the new tourism markets, and what new tourist types are appearing. Also discussed are new ventures in tourism development and how climatology and climate change relate to tourism, how web based geographic information services (WebGIS) are changing tourism and what kind of new growth opportunities space tourism will bring. This book is intended to give the reader some insights into new paradigms, new issues, and old problems that are affecting our understanding of the global tourism system, the quality of life for host communities and the experiential nature of tourism.

In this volume leading experts from different disciplines and diverse geographic regions discuss fundamental, often controversial topics in the field of tourism studies. The debates include subjects such as the concept of the 'tourist', the long-term sustainability of tourism development, the growth of volunteer tourism and the vulnerability of tourism.

This book provides a comprehensive and readable overview of the critical debates and controversies around tourism in Africa, and the major factors that are affecting tourism development now and in the future. Drawing upon research emerging from collaborations between a growing number of African academics and practitioners based in the continent and in the African diaspora as well as international colleagues, the Handbook offers key critical insights into the issues, challenges and trends that Africa and African tourism is facing. Part I covers continent-wide issues such as climate change, ICT, heritage and development. The remaining parts are organised along geographic lines, with each chapter covering the development of tourism, current trends and discussion of critical issues such as community participation, gender, backpacking, urban tourism, wildlife tourism and conservation. Combining an overview of key theories, concepts, contemporary issues and debates, this book will be a valuable resource for students, academics and practitioners investigating the role of tourism in Africa.