This engaging book argues that tourists - be they on a package tour or immersing themselves in local cultures - are not passive consumers of either destinations or their interpretations, but that they actively occupy a multi-sensory, embodied experience.

This is a timely and easily accessible book that addresses a number of issues that are of central concern to the development of tourism studies. It will also be of interest to those in cultural studies, social geography and social anthropology who are concerned with the relationship between the production and consumption of place.
- Kevin Meethan, University of Plymouth

Sharp and engagingTourist 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.

1. Introducing The Cultures of Tourism
Understanding Tourism
From Flâneur to Choraster?
Tourism, Experience and Space
The Structure of Tourist Cultures
PART I: TOURIST SELVES
2. The Tourist Experience
Functions and Formulations
Typologies of Experience
Authenticities and Alternatives
3. Tourism and Identity
Time to Escape
Identity and the Traveller Self
Stories and Narratives
4. Encountering the Other
(Inter)Cultural Dominance
Hosts and Guests
Gender, Sex and Tourism
PART II: TOURIST SPACES
5. The Landscapes of Tourism
Tourist Cultures, Tourist Space
Touring Nature
Cityscapes of Travel
6. Global Tourism, Local Cultures
Valuing the Local
Backpackers and Global Wanderers
Hybrid Travel Cultures
7. Tourism, Space and Representation
Image, Memory and Imagination
Post-tourism and Beyond
′Thirdspace′ of the Traveller Self
8. Conclusion