Tourist Destinations: Structure and Synthesis

Destinations are a central feature of tourism and the focus of much tourism research. Destinations have been studied from diverse perspectives using multiple concepts and a range of approaches. As a result, destination research today has become increasingly fragmented as studies have become more specialized. There is a need for a more integrated approach, one which systematically draws together these different research threads to provide a comprehensive and coherent picture and a fuller understanding of destinations, their structure and how they function. This book provides such a synthesis by critically reviewing a wide range of international research and incorporating in one volume many different facets of destinations from studies which have appeared in related but often divergent literatures. Conceptual and methodological issues are illustrated with empirical examples from Europe, North and South America, Asia and Oceania.