Tourism and Intercultural Exchange

Why Tourism Matters

By (author) Dr. Gavin Jack, Alison Phipps

Publication date:

17 May 2005

Publisher

Channel View Publications

Dimensions:

210x148mm
6x8"

ISBN-13: 9781845410186

This book asks the question; why is it that tourism matters? It looks at how it is we do tourism and learn to be tourists when we are on holiday. Tourism is a dynamic way of being that may facilitate or hinder intercultural exchange. The ways in which we do tourism and the places in which we are tourists raise practical, material and emotional questions about tourist life. This book draws on both empirical work and a range of theoretical frameworks, arguing that tourism matters precisely because of the lessons it can teach us about living everyday life with others.

With brilliant theoretical acuity, rich ethnographic data and critical insight, Gavin Jack and Alison Phipps illuminate the dynamics of the material and affective dimensions of tourist experience and how they play out in intercultural encounters. Their work not only synthesizes and critiques the current perspectives in tourism research but goes significantly beyond to help us think outside the box. It is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the complex nature of tourism and how it is inextricably linked to intercultural communication.