New Research Paradigms In Tourism Geography

This collection of papers from Tourism Geographies emphasizes new and emerging research paradigms in the geographic study of tourism. The papers included in this collection follow one of two threads: explicitly supporting specific research frameworks, or implicitly presenting new and emerging theoretical perspectives through empirical research on the geographical topics. These begin with three overview papers from themes that emerged from recent annual meetings of the Association of American Geographers, including evolutionary economic geography (EEG), political ecology and community resilience. Each of these theoretical and conceptual frameworks is leading to new explorations and insights in a wide variety of geographical and social science research, including tourism studies. These are followed by a series of papers that extend our knowledge and thinking on a range of key geographical topics, including development and underdevelopment (by Saarinen & Rogerson), sustainable tourism planning (by Torres-Delgado & Saarinen), encounters with the natural environment (by Hill), and the geography of place names (by Light), as well as economic geography and new technologies and their applications to spatial behavior research. The papers in this special issue are especially relevant to tourism scholars, and very much represent the types of perspectives that Tourism Geographies seek to promote. This book was published as a special issue of Tourism Geographies.

The theme of this book focuses on the being of tourism and knowledge construction in tourism. It discusses both ontological and epistemological issues in tourism studies. In addition to examining what constitutes tourism knowledge and how tourism knowledge is acquired, various theoretical and methodological paradigms will also be addressed.

In recent years, tourism geographies have developed into a vibrant field of research at the intersection of geography and tourism studies. The book presents a unique collection of individual research agendas aiming to inspire the pursuit of new avenues of research. Although there have been arguments to apply post-disciplinary perspectives within tourism research, this book highlights the interest and potential of tourism geographers to contribute to a geographical tradition and influence the future content of geography as a discipline.

This book provides an overview of innovative and new directions being chartered in South African tourism geographies. Within the context of global change the volume explores different facets and different geographies of tourism. Key themes under scrutiny include the sharing economy, the changing accommodation service sector, touring poverty, tourism and innovation, tourism and climate change, threats to sustainability, inclusive tourism and a number of studies which challenge the present-mindedness of much tourism geographical scholarship. The 18 chapters range across urban and rural landscapes in South Africa with sectoral studies which include adventure tourism, coastal tourism, cruise tourism, nature-based tourism, sports tourism and wine tourism. Finally, the volume raises a number of policy and planning issues in the global South in particular relating to sustainability, local economic development and poverty reduction. Outlining the impact of tourism expansion in South Africa and suggesting future research directions, this stimulating book is a valuable resource for geographers as well as researchers and students in the field of tourism studies.

Outlining the need for fresh perspectives on change in tourism, this book offers a theoretical overview and empirical examples of the potential synergies of applying evolutionary economic geography (EEG) concepts in tourism research. EEG has proven to be a powerful explanatory paradigm in other sectors and tourism studies has a track record of embracing, adapting, and enhancing frameworks from cognate fields. EEG approaches to tourism studies complement and further develop studies of established themes such as path dependence and the Tourism Area Life Cycle. The individual chapters draw from a broad geographical framework and address distinct conceptual elements of EEG, using a diverse set of tourism case studies from Europe, North America and Australia. Developing the theoretical cohesion of tourism and EEG, this volume also gives non-specialist tourism scholars a window into the possibilities of using these concepts in their own research. Given the timing of this publication, it has great potential value to the wider tourism community in advancing theory and leading to more effective empirical research.

Disruptive and creative research methodologies proposed in this book are designed to dismantle neoliberal narratives deployed in tourism studies and wider social sciences. Progressing criticality in tourism studies, this volume showcases cutting-edge contributions ranging from reflexivity, subjectivities, and dreams; to messy emotions in auto-ethnographic accounts of fieldwork; ‘motherhood capital’ accessing Inuit communities; collective memory work; ethnodrama and creative non-fiction, amongst others. Disruption and creativity are the two ideas around which tourism geographers challenge and begin dismantling hegemonic ideologies in tourism studies. The chapters in this book provide a vantage point from where to disrupt first, before tourism geographers can engender progress and transformation within and outside of the field. In tourism studies in general, and tourism geography in particular, the years of the 2000s have witnessed an emphasis on qualitative methodological research, both in terms of the topics addressed and the types of methodological tools. In many ways, this legitimisation of qualitative work mirrors developments in other areas such as human geography, sociology and anthropology, in which this book is anchored. The authors debate in more depth how tourism studies offer multidimensional, multilogical and multi-emotional approaches to research design. The chapters were originally published as a special issue of the journal, Tourism Geographies.

Geographical analysis of tourism spaces and places is advancing fast. In terms of human geography, the various recent academic ‘turns’ have led to fresh examination of existing debates and have advanced new theoretical ideas in geography that are more salient than ever for tourism studies. The Routledge Handbook of Tourism Geographies seeks to examine such recent developments by providing a state-of-the-art review of the field, documenting advances in research and evaluating different perspectives, approaches, techniques and contexts. The Routledge Handbook of Tourism Geographies considers recent disciplinary developments (including post-disciplinarily) in geography in relation to the study of tourism. It also analyzes the fledging relationships of the new mobilities paradigm, critical tourism studies and cultural political economy to tourism spaces and places, as well as acknowledging a spatial turn in poststructuralist social sciences more generally. In addition, it evaluates how postcolonial, feminist, sensory, performative and queer perspectives have diversified research in the tourism geographies field. Spatial analysis, time geography, placemaking and landscape concerns are addressed and issues such as transport, environmental discourses and development are also analyzed. Finally, the volume’s contributions highlight key areas for advancing research and map out the dimensions of future trajectories in tourism geographies in different theoretical and thematic contexts. Written by leading scholars in the tourism geographies field, this text will provide an invaluable resource for all those with an interest in tourism geographies, encouraging dialogue across disciplinary boundaries and areas of study.

Aims to map out the past and present of the tourism geographies sub-discipline within - and more importantly - beyond the English language contributions, and learn from the historical trajectories as well as experiences of tourism geographers working in different cultural and linguistic contexts.