Tourist Cultures: Identity, Place and the Traveller
About this ebook
- Kevin Meethan, University of Plymouth
Sharp and engaging, Tourist Cultures presents valuable critical insights into tourism - arguing that within the imagined-real spaces of the traveller self it becomes possible to envisage tourist cultures and futures that will both empower and engage.
Here is a framework for understanding tourism which is subject-centred, dynamic, and capable of dealing with the complexity of contemporary tourist cultures. The book argues that tourists are not passive consumers of either destinations or their interpretations. Rather, they are actively occupied in a multi-sensory, embodied experience.
It delves into what tourists are looking for when they travel, be they on a package tour, or immersing themselves in the places, cultures and lifestyles of the exotic. Tourism is examined through a consideration of the spaces and selves of travel, exploring the cultures of meaning, mobilities and engagement that frame and define the tourist experience and traveller identities.
This book draws on the explanatory traditions of sociology, human geography and tourism studies to provide useful insights into the experiential and the lived dimensions of tourism and travel. Written in an accessible and engaging style, this is a welcome contribution to the growing literature on tourism and will be important reading for students in a range of social science and humanities courses.
About the author
Dr. Stephen Wearing is an Associate Professor at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS). His research and projects are in the area of Leisure and Tourism Studies, with a PhD focused on sustainable forms of tourism. Stephen has taught at a variety of universities in his career at UTS, including Wageningen University, Netherlands; Newcastle and Macquarie University, Australia. In 2000, he received an excellence in teaching award (UTS) and in 2008 a National Teaching Award while his teaching of international students at the World Leisure′s and Tourism International Centre of Excellence (WICE) and Australian Conservation Training Institute (ACTI) has also been applauded. As Chair, Advisor and Board Member of Youth Challenge Australia (YCA) for over 20 years he has overseen its development into an NGO in the area of volunteer tourism and social development, working with communities in 9 developing countries. His work with range of steering committees including the wildlife steering committee for the CRC Sustainable Tourism, Australia; WICE advisory committee on training, Netherlands and the Australian Conservation Training Institute has given him useful experience in his academic career and service to the community. He is a Fellow and Life Member of Parks and Leisure Australasia and editor of its journal.
