The Critical Turn in Tourism Studies

Creating an Academy of Hope

In today’s increasingly complex tourism environment, decision-making requires a rounded, well-informed view of the whole. Critical distance should be encouraged, consultation and intellectual rigour should be the norm amongst managers and there needs to be a radical shift in our approach to educating future tourism and hospitality managers and researchers.

This second edition intends to move the debate forward by exploring how critical tourism inquiry can make a difference in the world, linking tourism education driven by the values of empowerment, partnership and ethics to policy and practice. This volume is designed to enable its reader to think through vital concepts and theories relating to tourism and hospitality management, stimulate critical thinking and use multidisciplinary perspectives. The book is organized around three key ways of producing social change in and through tourism: critical thinking, critical education and critical action. Part one focuses on the importance of critical thinking in tourism research and deals with two key topics of our academic endeavours (i) tourism epistemology and theoretical and conceptual developments; (ii) research entanglements, knowledge production and reflexivity. Part two considers ‘the university as a site for activism’ by mapping out the moral, academic and practical role of educators in developing ethical and responsible graduates and explores the student experience. The final part attempts to provide new understandings of the ways in which social justice and social transformation can be achieved in and through tourism.

This timely and thought provoking book which collectively questions tourism’s current and future role in societal development is essential reading for students, researchers and academics interested in Tourism & Hospitality.