Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
escape, for change or a search for the 'Other'. Certainly, many forms of 'mass'
tourism, from the 'ritualised pleasure' (Shields, 1991) of the 19th-century sea-
side resort through to contemporary packaged sun-sea-sand holidays were,
and remain, a separate, identifiable activity differentiated by time, location
and behaviour from normal social activities and institutions. However, it has
been suggested that, over the last 30 years or so, this differentiation has
become less apparent: 'tourism is no longer a differentiated set of social prac-
tices with its distinct rules, times and spaces' (Urry, 1994). That is, tourism
has become 'de-differentiated' from other social practices; it has allegedly
merged into other social activities, such as shopping, eating out or participat-
ing in/spectating at sport events and, thus, can no longer being considered in
isolation from other social practices and transformations. As a consequence,
it is 'increasingly being interpreted as but one, albeit highly significant dimen-
sion of temporary mobility' (Hall, 2005: 21).
In other words, the broad concept of mobilities, or the increasing and
widespread movement of people, capital, information and material goods
both globally and locally, is not only becoming a defining characteristic of
contemporary societies. It is also adopting the mantle of a new social scien-
tific paradigm. That is, social and economic life is increasingly patterned and
influenced by networks of mobilities (and immobilities) and, therefore, the
study of mobilities is increasingly seen as an appropriate theoretical frame-
work for the study of societies more generally. Evidently, tourism is one
manifestation of mobility; the dramatic growth in the scope and scale of
tourism reflects, or has contributed to, the increasing mobility of both people
and the services (finance, information, communication and so on) that facili-
tate tourism. As a consequence, the study of tourism is increasingly being
located within a mobilities framework (Hall, 2005), and it is now being
accepted that a fuller explanation of contemporary tourism requires knowl-
edge and understanding of the meanings and implications of the multiple
mobilities of people, capital, culture, information, goods and services more
generally. This, in turn, suggests that tourism as a social phenomenon may
in fact be indefinable; it is, simply, one dimension of mobility.
Nevertheless, for the purposes of this topic, it remains important to offer
a definition of tourism as a recognised phenomenon that is widely utilised
for the purpose of development. And it is primarily a social phenomenon. If
people had neither the ability nor the desire to travel from one place to
another, tourism would not exist. Thus, tourism is an activity which involves
individuals who travel within their own countries or internationally, and
who interact with other people and places. It involves people who are influ-
enced and motivated by the norms and transformations in their own society
and who carry with them their own 'cultural baggage' of experience, exp-
ectations, perceptions and standards. It is, in short, a social phenomenon
which involves the movement of people to various destinations and their
(temporary) stay there. By implication, therefore, tourists themselves play a
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