Research Handbook on Tourism Theories

This Research Handbook provides a comprehensive overview of the key and emerging theories shaping contemporary tourism research. Going beyond managerial and reductionist frameworks, it offers a curated set of perspectives that treat tourism as an unruly subject and theory as a way of deconstructing and reconstructing the field to open new questions and challenge assumptions.

Drawing from diverse disciplines, including sociology, anthropology, geography and the environmental humanities, the contributors demonstrate how different traditions cross pollinate and enrich tourism theorization. They explore the relational, dynamic and often 'messy' nature of these theories, highlighting how they are shaped by evolving relations of becoming, tension and controversy. Addressing future-oriented ideas, the Research Handbook argues for the role of theory in exploring, expanding and experimenting with what defines tourism, what it ought to be and what it could become.

The Research Handbook on Tourism Theories is a valuable reference for graduate students and researchers who approach tourism from social science and humanities perspectives. It is especially relevant for those working within the anthropology and sociology of tourism as well as tourism geography, where deep theoretical reflection is central to the discipline.