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In-Depth Information
be undertaken with a reasonable degree of certaint y, while m icro-level accounts of individual
human behaviour can be likened to quantum physics, in which far greater uncertainty about
the paths of individuals exists. Nevertheless, relationships clearly exist between the different
paradigms of physics as they do between individual and collective tourism behaviour. The
substantial contribution of tourism geographers to understanding the spatial attributes of
tourism (e.g. Lew and McKercher, 2002, 2006; McKercher and Lew, 2003; McKercher and
Lau, 2007) may therefore serve to shed light on the behaviours of individuals - and vice versa
(Hall, 2005b; Li, 2000).
In the development of the 'mobile turn' in tourism geography, strong links have also be
drawn to studies of diaspora (e.g. Coles and Timothy, 2004; Duval, 2003; Duval and Hall,
2004) and migration (e.g. Hall and Williams, 2002; Kang and Page, 2000; Williams and
Hall, 2000, 2002). Arguably the increased awareness of the interplay between tourism and
migration within the context of contemporary globalisation, transnationalism and mobility is
one of the strongest theoretical and empirical contributions of tourism geographers since the
late 1990s, shedding insights on labour migration (Aitken and Hall, 2000; Hardill, 2004;
Uriely, 2001; Williams, 2006, 2007; Williams and Balaz, 2004, 2005), return migration
(Duval, 2002, 2003, 2004a, 2004b), retirement migration (Casado-Diaz,
Chapter 15
of
this volume; Gustafson, 2002, King
et al.
, 2000; Williams
et al.
, 2000), student migration
(King and Ruiz-Gelices, 2003), second homes (Müller, 2002a, 2002b, 2002c, 2004, 2006a;
Müller and Hall, 2003; Hall and Müller, 2004; McIntyre
et al.
, 2006; Tuulentie, 2007; Visser,
2006) and human mobility over the lifecourse (Hall, 2005b; Frändberg, 2006). In addition,
the empirical research on mobility has been aided by developments in tracking technology
and spatial information systems that can provide a powerful analysis of patterns of individual
mobility (e.g. Hall,
Chapter 21
and Shoval,
Chapter 22 o
f this volume; Shoval and Isaacson,
2006, 2007a, 2007b; Lau and McKercher, 2007) and the associated impacts of visitor fl ows
(e.g. Boers and Cottrell, 2007; Connell and Page, 2008).
Although it should be noted that the connection between tourism and transport studies is
actually surprisingly weak in comparison to the vast amount of research undertaken in trans-
port geography with respect to human movement (e.g. Duval and Koo,
Chapter 27
of this
volume; Duval, 2007; Lumsdon and Page, 2004; Page, 2005b).
The interest in understanding tourism-related patterns and fl ows has also been extended
to unravelling the complex international tourism system. Research on global commodity
chains (e.g. Mosedale, 2006, 2008) has drawn on a number of sources and infl uences within
economic geography and political economy (e.g. see Agarwal
et al.
, 2000; Britton, 1991;
Hudson, 2004; Hughes and Reimer, 2004) as well as from social theory and cultural geog-
raphy (e.g. Ateljevic and Doorne, 2003, 2004; Jackson, 1999) and has potential as a specifi c
means of expanding tourism research on transnational corporations and cross-border opera-
tions. The value of commodity chain analysis is that it provides a more comprehensive account
of production, distribution and consumption than simply looking at tourism satellite accounts
(TSA) (e.g. Smith, 2004), tourism competitive indices (e.g. Hall, 2007a), distribution chan-
nels (e.g. Pearce
et al.
, 2004) or supply and value chains. Whereas distribution channel analy-
sis, for example, evaluates channel organisation and operation for improved tourism
marketing, commodity chain analysis helps reveal the system of international tourism actions
and the qualitative change in process at each step of the chain (Mosedale, 2008).
Arguably, such approaches have facilitated a far more nuanced understanding of global-
local economic relationships in tourism (Milne and Ateljevic, 2001) than from focusing on
TSAs, distribution or value, as important as these might be in their own right. Indeed, Smith
(2007) points to the value of moving our understanding of tourism beyond the TSA
