Tourists and Tourism: A Reader

by Sharon Bohn Gmelch

Capturing the diversity and importance of tourism research! What do people seek when they travel? How do locals respond and who benefits? What impact do tourists have on the environments and people they visit? What do tourists gain from their travel and exposure to other cultures and what are their responsibilities? Stimulating and comprehensive, Tourists and Tourism is a valuable examination of a major social and economic phenomenon. This new collection provides an authoritative and lively introduction to global tourism. Twenty-seven essays, by a wide array of North American and international scholars, have been selected to achieve a balance between theory and recent case studies from different parts of the world. In addition, contributors represent a variety of disciplines, including anthropology, sociology, history, geography, folklore, and journalism, offering fresh, eclectic perspectives. The volume is enriched by photographs. Appendices provide a list of recommended films and examples of behavioral guidelines for tourists.

Genres: Nonfiction, Travel, Anthropology, Ethnography, School

478 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2004

Reviews

[Carlos · Rating 5 out of 5]

For the longest time, tourism has used the work-play dichotomy to hide from the “wrath” of critical scholarship. How Can endeavors solely intended for play be of any harm, and to whom? Luckily, anthropologists (once they threw out the yoke of their problematic past) have penetrated this myth to produce the scholarship we need to feel righteous in ridiculing others for their *overtly* problematic vacations (I am only half joking here).

[I should state, I read this book’s 3rd edition. For some reason I could not find that specific version on Goodreads, but I doubt my conclusions differ much between editions.]

Gmelch and Kaul did a fantastic job curating 24 articles that really capture the breadth of tourism studies. Though they are coming from an anthropological perspective, I appreciate their efforts to draw from history and geography as well. Their examples do a decent job at providing global coverage (though I do not recall any coverage of South America), and an even better one at topical coverage. Students, scholars, volunteers, pedophiles, cruise assholes, neocolonialists, (straight up) colonialists, eco-freaks, the sick, the creepy, and (of course) loads of rich people appear throughout this mid-length survey’s pages. Despite the clear condemnations many authors harbor towards problematic touristic practices, there isn’t that condescending academic stance (except perhaps for the unrealistic expectations Kaul sets in the last chapter, but social scientists are notoriously bad at writing final chapters). I adore the chapter lengths, there is always a source at the end if you want to read more about the subject but the coverage is never so brief as to make me think anything important was removed.

As with many good social science works, there are plenty of pictures, really giving a sense of the lived realities of touristic spaces. The language is quite approachable to anyone with at least a mild college education, with some (broader intended) chapters having even more inclusive language. The major subfields of tourism studies (e.g., medical tourism, dark, eco-, sex, heritage, etc.) get their own chapters. The tourist, as a concept, is robustly examined by multiple authors (with plenty of enticing bibliographies for the more curious). Additionally, more traditional social science concepts (e.g., race, gender, and class) also appear amply.

I don’t really have any complaints to articulate here. Normally I get burned out by the end of these compendium works, but that didn’t happen here. I think it is primarily because the length perfectly maps to the material variety.

Highly recommend as an introduction to tourism studies, even if you aren’t in to anthropology (though if you want to get into anthropology, this is probably also a good book for that).

[Diana McCutcheon · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must for informative reading on tourism anthropology/ethnography

[Kristi · Rating 4 out of 5]

The essays in this volume solidify the scholarly relevance of tourism as a topic of academic study, as well as explore the impact of tourists and tourism on local populations. According to Gmelch, tourists represent the largest movement of people across national borders. Historically and contemporaneously motivations for travel are widely varied and often complex, including pleasure/amusement, pilgrimage, profit, knowledge, adventure, and health. This text focuses on the contact between tourists (consumers) and locals (producers), and the economic, social, cultural, and environmental impact of tourism and asymmetrical exchange on destination communities, including material strain, pollution, exoticism, social cache and economic hierarchy, as well as the transformation of tradition into spectacle and performance.

[Gina]

I read this book as part of a class I took to fulfill an Anthropology course requirement for my BS. I didn't really find the subject that interesting so I will not be specializing in Tourism but found the book to be well written and presented well.