Critical Debates in Tourism

Edited by Tej Vir Singh

Publication date:

14 August 2012

Publisher

Channel View Publications

Dimensions:

234x156mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9781845413422

In this volume tourism experts collectively discuss and debate some intriguing questions that the tourism industry poses, such as the relevance of mass tourism, the dilemma of authenticity, whether small tourism is beautiful, whether volunteer tourism is benign, whether tourism contributes to climate change, as well as many others. The book brings together the expertise of 35 renowned international scholars of tourism to examine these perplexing issues. Multidisciplinary in its content, it touches upon anthropology, sociology, geography, climatology, biosciences, and planning and development aspects of tourism. The book provides a dialogue for an academic discussion which challenges research conservatism and stereotypes in tourism studies. It will encourage scholars to test the consistency of critical notions whose heuristic value is often taken for granted. The book will benefit graduates, research scholars and those involved in organizing the industry sustainably.

Preface

Introduction – Tej Vir Singh

1. Mass Tourism and Sustainability: Can the Two Meet?

1.1 Towards Sustainable Mass Tourism: Paradigm Shift or Paradigm Nudge? – David Weaver

1.2 Is Mass Tourism Serious About Sustainability? – Ralf Buckley

1.3 Sustainable Mass Tourism: More Smudge than Nudge the Canard Continues – Brian Wheeller

1.4 Critical and Normative Responses to Sustainable Tourism – Bill Bramwell

2. Consumerism and Tourism: Are They Cousins?

2.1 Does Consumerism Necessarily Promote Bad Tourism? – Richard Sharpley

2.2 Consumerism, Tourism and Voluntary Simplicity: We all have to Consume, but do we really have to Travel so Much to be Happy? – C. Michael Hall

2.3 Not All Consumerism has Shady Side – Joan C. Henderson

3. Is Small Tourism Beautiful?

3.1 Tourism: Is Small Beautiful? – David Harrison

3.2 Small can be Beautiful, but big can be Beautiful too – and Complementary: Towards Mass Tourism/Alternative Tourism Synergy – David Weaver

3.3 Small is Beautiful: Size can be Important – Richard Butler

4. Does Community Participation Empower Local People?

4.1 The Mantra of ‘Community Participation’ in Context – Jim Butcher

4.2 Community-based Tourism as Strategic Dead-end – David Weaver

4.3 Community Participation – In Need of a Fresh Perspective – Shalini Singh

5. Does Tourism Reduce Poverty?

5.1 Pro-Poor Tourism: Is There Value Beyond the Rhetoric? – Regina Scheyvens

5.2 Pro-Poor Tourism: Is There Actually Much Rhetoric? And, if so, Whose? – Dorothea Meyer

5.3 Pro-poor Tourism: Is there Value Beyond ‘Whose’ Rhetoric? – David Harrison

5.4 Pro-Poor Tourism: Climate Change and Sustainable Development – Paul Peeters

6. Volunteer Tourism: Is it Benign?

6.1 Volunteer Tourism: As Good as it Seems – Daniel Guttentag

6.2 Volunteer Tourism: May not be as Good as it Seems – Jim Butcher

6.3 Volunteer Tourism: Looking Forward – Eliza Raymond

7. Tourism and Welfare: Seeking Symbiosis

7.1 The Tourism Industry’s Welfare Responsibilities: An Adequate Response? – Derek Hall and Frances Brown

7.2 ‘Ethical’ Travel and Well-being: Reposing the Issue – Jim Butcher

7.3 Tourism Ethics Needs More Than a Surface Approach – David Fennell

7.4 Tourism and Welfare: A Good Idea and a Pious Hope – Carson. L. Jenkins

8. Tourism Education: Quo Vadis?

8.1 Contemporary Tourism Education: Notes from the Frontline – Chris Cooper

8.2 The Cost of Everything and the Value of Nothing – Brian Wheeller

8.3 Innovate or Deteriorate – Moving Tourism Education into the 21st Century – Lisa Ruhanen

9. Post Colonialism: Academic Responsibility?

9.1 ‘Post-colonialism’, Responsibility and Tourism Academics: Where’s the Connection – Derek Hall and Frances Brown

9.2 Academic Capitalism, Academic Responsibility and Tourism Academics: or, the Silence of the Lambs? – C. Michael Hall

9.3 Towards an Ethics of Responsibility in Tourism Education – Erik Cohen

10. The Dilemma of Authenticity and In-authenticity

10.1 ‘Authenticity’ in Tourism Studies: Aprés la Lutte – Erik Cohen

10.2 Staged Authenticity: A Grande idée? – Kjell Olsen

10.3 Persisting with Authenticity: Gleaning Contemporary Insights for Future Tourism Studies – Philip L. Pearce

11. Heritage Tourism: Heritage Tourists

11.1 Do Tourists Destroy the Heritage They Have Come to Experience? – Gregory J. Ashworth

11.2 Heritage Tourists: Responsible, (f)or What? – Brian Wheeller

11.3 Tourists and Heritage: All Things Must Come to Pass – C. Michael Hall

12. Nature Based Tourism: There is Lot in the Name

12.1 What's in a Name? Conceptualizing Natural Resource-Based Tourism – David Fennell

12.2 Nature-Based Tourism in Breadth and Depth – Ralf Buckley and Alexandra Coghlan

12.3 Ecotourism and Nature-Based Tourism: What’s Beyond the Names and Labels? – Betty Weiler

13. Tourism and Climate Change: A Need for Critical Analysis

13.1 Tourism and Climate Change: Knowledge Gaps and Issues – C. Michael Hall

13.2 Climate Change: Beyond the Hype – Susanne Becken

13.3 Climate Change: Tourism Destination Dynamics – Ralf Buckley

13.4 Climate Change and Tourism: Time for Critical Reflection – Daniel Scott

14. Slow Tourism: Back to Bullock Cart Days!

14.1 Are Slow Travel and Slow Tourism Misfits, Compadres or Different Genres? – Dennis Conway and Benjamin F Timms

14.2 Advocating and Implementing Slow Tourism – Alison Caffyn

14.3 Questioning Slow As Sustainable – Rachel Dodds

Conclusion – Tej Vir Singh

A must for those wanting to get to grips with the key tourism debates. This is an unconventional book that covers many of the big policy issues in tourism – climate change, mass tourism, community empowerment, etc. Experts explore these issues providing opinions, exploding myths and highlighting the value-laden nature of tourism.