Global Tourism

Lyon (Univ. of Kentucky) and Wells (Univ. of South Florida) deliver a well-put-together collection of essays centered on the anthropology of tourism. Not since Valene Smith and Maryann Brent's edited Hosts and Guests Revisited (CH, Apr'02, 39-4654) has such a volume been written that captures the essence of tourism using ethnographic methods. The 14 chapters are situated within three parts: "Cultural Heritage," "Economic Encounters in Touristic Spheres," and "Redefining Tourism's 'Impact.'" One of the best things about this work is the empirical support for the assertion that self-commodification of tourist goods and services is indeed a dual process, "both an economic response to the global expansion of the service sector and a politically motivated expression of identity." In addition to offering various interesting case studies, the collection seeks to bridge anthropology with the field of tourism....The edited volume will be a good addition to library collections specializing in the anthropology of tourism. Summing Up: Recommended. * CHOICE *
Scholars and students of tourism have long struggled against the common assumption that their subject is somehow trivial in its association with leisure and brief encounters. This volume goes a long way in demonstrating the multiple ways in which global tourism is fundamentally redefining local and regional economies and broadly shaping the ways in which virtually all the world's peoples are learning to re-present their heritage and identity to others. There is nothing trivial about it. -- Erve Chambers, University of Maryland
These [chapters] challenge traditional writings in tourism studies that the editors and others have found to be caught in the bind of  rehashing old conceptual orientations to the extent that the ideas are stale and in need of new thinking. The chapters outline these themes in a logical progression to address ideas of heritage, identity, and sustainability from the origins of tourism in particular locals, host/guest encounters, recognition of practices promoting the empowerment of women in tourism, and concerns about the environment through “staycations” to reduce the carbon impact of flying. Questions are carefully posed to engage the reader in the contemporary problems arising in tourism.  Who benefits? What does the tourist gain from the experience? Does the practice of staged authenticity destroy the meaning and significance of the original practice or re-enforce understanding for a new generation? What is ecotourism?  A refreshing view of these issues is provided through the lens of economic anthropology. -- Sue Taylor, Public Anthropologist in Residence, American University