Broadly speaking, academic tourism research comes in two main shapes - why and how to. Both traditions seem unable to ever meet and their trajectory reminds of scissors agape. Tourism research, it is argued in this book, finds itself in a serious scissors crisis. Accordingly, the text reflects on how the crisis came about and looks at its effect on the real world. It explores how, within the limited realm of tourism behavior, the scissors crisis mirrors the post-romantic elan that since the 1960s has engulfed most social sciences in a blietzkrieg that was as harmful in its rejection of a modern market economy as it was shallow in theoretical views. From this point on, the book maintains a number of contrarian views that run against the grain of conventional academic wisdom. It highlights how the post-romantic worldview (mis)construes the global tourist system. In conclusion, the book favors a complete about turn in hypotheses and analytical tools to gap the yawning scissor crisis and to make tourism research more accountable to developments in the real world.

This book reviews all aspects of the phenomenon of mass tourism. It covers theoretical perspectives (including political economy, ethics, sustainability and environmentalism), the historical context, and the current challenges to domestic, intra-regional and international mass tourism. As tourism and tourist numbers continue to grow around the world, it becomes increasingly important that this subject is studied in depth and best practice applied in real-life situations. This book: - Is the first to address a range of theoretical issues relating to mass tourism; - Uses a wide selection of case studies to translate theory into practice, covering the historical rise and fall of UK seaside resorts, the increase in Chinese tourism, conflict between different mass tourism groups, destination transformation from mass to niche tourism, and specific problems facing cruise ships; - Is written by a range of international, established authors to give a global perspective on the subject. Finishing with a speculative chapter identifying potential future trends and challenges, this book forms an essential resource for all researchers and students within tourism studies.