The Routledge Handbook of Tourism Geographies

The relationship between tourism and geography has been acknowledged in a great number of previous studies and papers covering various aspects and perspectives (Butler, 2004; Hall & Page, 2009). Although tourism geography as a field of enquiry is still a new concept, tourism represents an ‘important point of intersection within geography’ (Gibson, 2008, p. 407). In fact, as Lew (2001) argues, much of tourism literature actually draws on geographical contributions as geographers have long been engaged with various aspects of the understanding of tourism and recreational studies. This involvement is represented in The Routledge handbook of tourism geographies, which provides a wide variety of conceptual and methodological frameworks, research advances and analysis. The Handbook is an edited volume comprising 31 chapters. The chapters provide a good review of some thematic areas of geographies of tourism, including development, historical geographies, environmental discourses and spatial analysis, and critically examine some emerging topics such as rural tourism, city tourism and tourism in coastal areas. The book starts with the editor’s introductory brief which outlines the contents of the volume and introduces the topic.