Critical Issues In Tourism

The first edition of this text provided a geographic perspective on how the production and consumption of tourism are reshaping human and physical environments. This edition builds on this, updating the material to reflect changes that have taken place.

This edited volume seeks to go beyond the dominant business/management/marketing perspectives that focus on the co-creation of market value and innovation, to excavate complex and critical episodes of co-creation in tourism.

'Responsible Tourism presents a wide variety of valuable lessons learned in responsible tourism initiatives in Southern Africa that many tourism practitioners can use in their efforts to make the tourism sector work for the poor and for the environment.' Dr Harsh Varma Director Development Assistance Department World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) 'For those interested in how tourism can assist in the economic and social development of societies in need Responsible Tourism effectively integrates scales and types of knowledge to present an informative stimulating perspective. It will be on my boo.

Identifies and addresses critical issues in ecotourism. This book provides the reader with contributions from international scholars that address issues of relevance; incorporating scientific insights in specialised fields of research, for example, identifying and protecting critical habits where tourists engage with endangered species.

Few industries have expanded faster over the last fifty years than tourism. Tourism has brought employment to millions, frequently in the poor and more remote parts of the world, and given pleasure, variety, rest and recreation to countless numbers of travelers and holiday-makers. It has at the same time destroyed and polluted pristine environments, threatened local cultures, and in doing so, frequently devalued just those characteristics of a place that had made it a desirable tourist objective. The issues that tourism raises are of critical and vital importance throughout the world: this book provides a much-needed geographical perspective upon them. The authors focus on both the production and consumption of tourism, and show that it is this interrelationship which holds the key to understanding the ways in which tourism shapes, and reshapes, human and physical environments. They analyze the key features of the tourism and leisure industries, and place them in the context of changing social, political and economic structures and behavior. The argument is accompanied throughout by illustrative case studies, drawn from a wide range of countries, including both the developed and developing economies.

Co-creation is fast becoming a buzz word in tourism. Traditional approaches to value creation in tourism suggest that operators and suppliers produce goods and services which are consumed by tourists. The value produced is usually measured in economic terms. Co-creation challenges these assumptions, arguing that tourism producers and consumers co-create value together and that this value is more diverse than just economic value. Technologies underpinning social media, ratings and review tools and e-commerce are facilitating the creation of diverse values, and have been responsible for driving innovation in, for example, new business models such as the collaborative economy. Social, environmental, emotional, reputational and other kinds of value may also be produced, and a wide range of stakeholders, not just producers or consumers, might also benefit from the value co-creation process. This edited volume seeks to go beyond the dominant business/management/marketing perspectives that focus on the co-creation of market value and innovation, to excavate complex and critical episodes of co-creation in tourism. By engaging authors from both the academy and beyond, it explores the rich historical linage of co-creation and its contemporary practices. The chapters in this book were originally published in Tourism Recreation Research.

Does tourism empower women working in and producing tourism? How are women using the transformations tourism brings to their advantage? How do women, despite prejudice and stereotypes, break free, resist and renegotiate gender norms at the personal and societal levels? When does tourism increase women's autonomy, agency and authority? The first of its kind this book delivers: A critical approach to gender and tourism development from different stakeholder perspectives, from INGOs, national governments, and managers as well as workers in a variety of fields producing tourism. Stories of individual women working across the world in many aspects of tourism. A foreword by Margaret Bryne Swain and contributions from academics and practitions from across the globe. A lively and accessible style of writing that links academic debates with lived realities while offering hope and practical suggestions for improving gender equality in tourism. Gender Equality and Tourism: Beyond Empowerment, a critical gendered analysis that questions the extent to which tourism brings women empowerment, is an engaging and thought-provoking read for students, researchers and practitioners in the areas of tourism, gender studies, development and anthropology.

Despite the geometric expansion of tourism knowledge, some areas have remained stubbornly underdeveloped and a full or comprehensive consideration of the philosophical issues of tourism represents one such significant knowledge gap. A key aim of this book therefore is to provide an initial mapping of, and fresh insights into this territory. In doing so it discusses key philosophical questions in the field such as What is tourism? Who is a tourist? What is wisdom? What is it to know something? What is the nature of reality? Why are some destinations considered beautiful? Why is tourism desirable? What is good and bad tourism? What are desirable ends? These and similar topics are addressed this book under the headings of truth, beauty and virtue.