Tourism Studies And The Social Sciences

Tourism Studies and the Social Sciences aims to provide students with a wider understanding of and grounding in the theories of the social sciences that tourism studies have been built upon.

"The strongest overview I have encountered of the scope and the current state of research across all the fields involved in advancing our understanding of tourism. For its range of topics, depth of analyses, and distinction of its contributors, nothing is comparable." - Professor Dean MacCannell, University of California, Davis "The breadth of vision and sweep of accounts is remarkable, and range of topics laudable... a rare combination of the authoritative, the challenging and stimulating." - Professor Mike Crang, Durham University Tourism studies developed as a sub-branch of older disciplines in the social sciences, such as anthropology, sociology and economics, and newer applied fields of study in hospitality management, civil rights and transport studies. This Handbook is a sign of the maturity of the field. It provides an essential resource for teachers and students to determine the roots, key issues and agenda of tourism studies, exploring: The evolution and position of tourism studies The relationship of tourism to culture The ecology and economics of tourism Special events and destination management Methodologies of study Tourism and transport Tourism and heritage Tourism and postcolonialism Global tourist business operations Ranging from local to global issues, and from questions of management to the ethical dilemmas of tourism, this is a comprehensive, critically informed, constructively organized overview of the field. It draws together an inter-disciplinary group of contributors who are among the most celebrated names in the field and will be quickly recognized as a landmark in the new and expanding field of tourism studies.

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.

This collection of key articles from the most influential journals and books in the field examines what social scientists mean by the term tourism, and what it means to be a tourist. Carefully selected and introduced by the editor, this material charts the sociological changes that have occurred in tourism, and the change from the upper-class grand tours of the late nineteenth-century to the mass tourism of the present day. The collection also assesses the economic impacts of tourism on local economies, environmental considerations, and whether the growth of tourism is sustainable in a post-September 11th world. "Tourism: Critical Concepts in the Social Sciences" is an accessible and comprehensive resource designed for academics and scholars researching in tourism, globalization, and human geography.

'Tourism' helps provide an understanding of the contemporary forces shaping tourism in a manner that connects the field to broader policy and scientific debate that is approachable by students of tourism at all levels. Issues are examined in terms of key concepts of contemporary social and environmental studies.

The tourism industry is striving hard to create attractive worlds for its customers. Both as a necessity and as a challenge, this field is overwhelmed by the imagination economy, but raises several questions about tourists, providing opportunities to move deeper into the understanding of complexities involved in relationships among tourists, tourism sites and their historical structure, and environmental sustainability. As a result of this, a serious academic interest in tourism has developed over recent decades as a complex aspect of investigation into humans and their environment. This volume brings together case studies from different parts of the world, focusing on tourism and its interactions with the environment. It provides a general outline of theoretical issues and their practicality in different industrialising countries from both the East and the West. The book will appeal to researchers involved in tourism studies and environmental interactions, as well as academicians and tourism agencies.

This text introduces tourism students to concepts drawn from critical theory, cultural studies and the social sciences. It does so with a light and readable touch, highlighting the ideas that underlie contemporary critical tourism studies in a practical and engaging way. Specifically, the authors examine how post-structuralist thought has led to a re-imagining of power relationships and the ways in which they are central to the production and consumption of tourism experiences. Eleven clear, relevant chapters provide an accessible introduction to tourism defining, explaining and developing the key issues and methods in this exciting field. These topics include: • Regulating Tourism • Commodifying Tourism • Embodying Tourism • Performing Tourism • Tourism and the Everyday • Tourism and the Other • Tourism and the Environment • Tourism and the Past • Tourism Mobilities • Researching Tourism A strong teaching text, this will be well received by lecturers seeking an authoritative, multi-disciplinary book on contemporary tourism and by students who want a practical, grounded introduction which understands their learning and research needs.