Tourism Studies

Tourism studies refers to a still evolving, multidisciplinary academic field that examines various dimensions of travel, ostensibly for leisure purposes. In the sense that tourism is a discretionary “mass” leisure practice of the developed world, is built on technological capacities, and has largely flourished as a liberating practice within capitalist societies, it can be seen as both a product and a project of modernity. Tourism studies have emerged over the past forty years and can be characterized as a complex field that mirrors the increasing complexities of both domestic and international tourism. Tourism studies covers scholarly interests relating to three interrelated dimensions of tourism. First, it focuses on the movements, motivations, behaviors, practices, and performances of people as tourists. This extends to the relationships that ...