With the vast majority of academic theory on tourism based on ‘Western’ tourists, Asia on Tour illustrates why the rapid growth of travel for leisure and recreation in Asia demands a reappraisal of how tourism is analyzed and understood. Examining domestic and intra-regional tourism, the book reveals how improvements in infrastructures, ever increasing disposable incomes, liberalized economies, the inter-connectivities of globalization and the lowering of borders, both physical and political, are now enabling millions of Asians to travel as tourists. Drawing upon multidisciplinary theoretical perspectives and up-to-date empirical research, the twenty-three accessible essays in this volume indicate why a rigorous and critical study of Asian tourism must become integral to both our analysis of this rapidly transforming region and our interpretation of global tourism in the twenty first century.
As a rich collection of essays on heritage and tourism oriented around Asian tourists, Asia on Tour will be of particular interest to students and scholars working in the fields of tourism, Asian studies, geography, heritage, anthropology, development, sociology, and cultural and postcolonial studies.
Review
'Asia on Tour is a valuable addition to the slowly growing discourse on non-Western tourist behaviour. It does so by highlighting the interactions between Asian tourism cultures, which are played out according to the cultural backgrounds of the participants. Included are a large number of well-researched examples, which are analysed using the common insight that the tourist of MacCannell and Urry is in fact a Western tourist.' - Wolfgang Georg Arlt, Journal of Heritage Tourism, Vol. 4, November 2009
'This volume provides a lot of thoughtprovoking insight into contemporary issues that not only affect the individual countries and communities that the chapters focus on, but also could be extended comparatively to other Asian countries and regions as well. As such, the book serves as both a useful reference and a guide to tourism in and of Asia today.'
Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography, Vol. 31, No.2, July 2010
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