Contemporary Perspectives on Tourism.

Wall, G. ed. 2001. University of Waterloo, Department of Geography Publication Series, Waterloo, ON. ISBN 0-921088-63-7 (paper) $25.00. 304 pp.

Reviewed by Suzanne Dobson, Dept. of Geography and Center for Coastal Studies, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, V5A 1S6.

Contemporary Perspectives on Tourism contains a wealth of knowledge on tourism issues and studies from a variety of approaches, disciplines, and perspectives. In an effort to display the multifaceted forms, consequences, and uses of tourism for economic, environmental and socio-cultural development, the book uses a multi-disciplinary perspective, often absent in tourism literature. The combination of chapters provides a good, albeit hodgepodge, collection of tourism theory from supply, demand, developing, planning, and marketing standpoints. This combination stresses the point that tourism can mean different things to different people, often based on geographical location. However, very few chapters in the book, with Wall's article as the notable exception, are multi-disciplinary themselves. Rather, the book is a collection of discipline-specific articles that in combination create a multi-disciplinary approach. As a strength, the variety of approaches allows for a more detailed analysis of theory and definit ions as they are understood within tourism research, the drawback is that there is no connectivity between the chapters making the reader question the overall integrated focus of this collection of papers. Perhaps this is the point the editor was hoping to make in displaying the countless ways in which tourism can be studied, researched, planned, and implemented.

The source of the confusion can be placed on the lack of information provided in the brief two-paragraph preface. While it outlines where the idea for the edited volume emerged, it fails to explain the purpose of the book, its intended audience and preferred outcomes, or to summarize the chapters, describe the contributors, specify why the reader should purchase and/or read this book, and what they will learn from it. The other confusing detail that the preface could have clarified is the focus on Canada. Sometimes it felt as though the book should be named Contemporary Perspectives on Tourism in Canada, as it is the prime example used throughout the chapters: Furthermore, in many cases Canadian facts and names are dropped without explanation, leading to the assumption that the intended audience will be Canadians? Yet in some articles Canada is not a focus or even mentioned suggesting a wider, more international audience. If this is the case, then more detail about some of the Canadian examples would have bee n useful. A book providing contemporary perspectives on tourism in Canada would be timely and able to display the excellent quality of Canadian research on tourism issues. Again, a line in the preface could have clarified this issue and set the reader on the right track before arriving at Chapter Four, Geoffrey Wall's Consequences of Tourism.

This chapter stands out as the brightest light by mixing theory with practical examples and making the economic and political consequences clearly understandable. Unlike many authors, Wall not only presents the issues, the gaps in the literature, and the barriers preventing tourism research from moving forward, he also proposes solutions and recommendations that compel the reader to take up his challenges. Eagles's chapter also combines theory with a myriad of international examples that capture the reader's attention and bring the reality of the issues home. The only chapter that did not fit well was Meis's chapter on Canada's position in tourism marketing and development on the global scale. The article was too "pro-Canadian", and could have used a section on what Canada could improve in the future or where they currently fall short or lag behind in tourism development and marketing. As it stands, the chapter seems like propaganda that is lacking the academic, critical dimension that carries the rest of the book.

The last five chapters are diverse and theme-oriented, which complements some of the purely theoretical chapters preceding them. Byrne Swain's chapter contributes to wider theory with an analysis of tourism development and marketing from a feminist perspective that is relatively new to tourism studies. Her anecdotal writing style makes the chapter not only understandable and easy to read but thought provoking about many issues most people would never think twice about. There could have been more integration between her theory and practical examples, but her account is fascinating nonetheless. Getz also does a good job with the concluding chapter on "Tourism Planning into the New Millennium".

In conclusion, Contemporary Perspectives on Tourism is a thought provoking, advanced book on tourism studies primarily from the Canadian perspective. The book would be very useful as a text for an advanced or graduate tourism class. The book could not be used for a beginner class as the basic tourism definitions and concepts are absent and appropriately so as the themes in Contemporary Perspectives on Tourism are advancing tourism studies, not reiterating its current status. As such, I believe this book has a lot to offer academia and recommend it to any serious student or professor of tourism studies.