Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
1
The view from space
Julie Wilson
Tourism activity, as viewed from space (i.e. 'up there'), would probably baffl e and fascinate
extraterrestrials in equal measure. Down here on Earth, tourism as viewed from a spatial
perspective is easily as baffl ing and fascinating - one of the main reasons why scholars in
geography have long since taken such an interest in studying the phenomenon. When consid-
ering the act of tourism as implying movement of some kind, we acknowledge that movement
is fundamentally a geographic concept, as Knudsen
et al.
note in
Chapter 26
of this volume. As
such, those engaged in tourism studies from within geography (and related fi elds with a spatial
and/or place-based focus) are arguably well placed to get to grips with the complex spatiality
of tourism. Gibson's (2008) review in
Progress in Human Geography
echoes this sentiment,
highlighting tourism geography's inherent 'criticality, pervasiveness and scope to catalyse
cutting-edge research' (p. 15).
In thinking about the possible nature and parameters of this volume, I drew inspiration
from the recent surge in refl exivity within the tourism geographies sub-discipline (see for
example the landmark pieces by Coles
et al.
, 2006; Gibson, 2008, 2009; Hall and Page, 2009;
Smith, 2010b). Collectively, these pieces seem to represent the emergence of a climate of
critical self-appraisal, in that they take a long and detailed look at what we do as tourism
geographers, how and why we do it, and how perhaps we should be adapting to advances in
both research and real world developments.
In a time of post-disciplinarity and identity crises in geography more generally (Hall and
Page,
Chapter 2;
Butler,
Chapter 3)
, I felt there was a need to take stock of what has gone
before within the sub-discipline of tourism geographies, prior to reorienting our thinking
towards the future. Further to this, there was a need to debate in the context of this climate
which new (or renewed) research perspectives may be the most adequate for advancing our
knowledge and emergent ideas on tourism activity.
In short, I wanted to produce an edited volume that took a well-considered look at what
comprises contemporary tourism geographies research and scholarship. In particular, I wanted
to focus on ways in which we as an academic community are making departures and advances
from existing debates and also on what is holding strong in terms of theory, method and
context. In this respect, the rationale was to provide a fresh examination of developments in
the tourism geographies fi eld (see for instance Coles and Hall, 2006; Coles
et al.
, 2005, 2006;
