The SAGE Handbook of Tourism Studies
- Tazim Jamal - Texas A & M University, USA
- Mike Robinson - University of Birmingham, UK
"This is 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. It will be greeted enthusiastically as an indispensable reference source."
—Dean MacCannell, University of California, Davis
Tourist 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.
Among the key features covered in the book are:
- The evolution and position of Tourism Studies
- The relationship of tourism to culture
- Route maps to the ecology and economics of tourism
- Special Events, Destination Management and Tourism
- Methodologies of Study
- Tourism and Transport
- Tourism and Heritage
- Tourism and Postolonialism
- 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. It will be quickly recognized as a landmark in the new and expanding field of Tourism Studies.
While well written and acessible, the approach is a little too basic for University level study.
This book was a little heavy for the level 3 students I teach. Many of them found it difficult to understand, however I found it useful for lesson planning.
Although the text is extremely comprehensive and covers a wide range of relevant trends and topics within the industry it would be more suitable for the final year of an Honours Degree or indeed courses at Postgraduate level.
I believe that this book should be in all Libraries wherein a Tourism Studies course is offered.
I find this a quite comprehensive overview of the field, and I recommend my students to look this up if they are curious about the background of some of the topics that we discuss in class.
It is more applicable to those students who plan to continue their course in tourism as an academic field, or in a research capacity.
