The Scissors Crisis in Tourism Studies

Abstract

The precipitous growth of mass tourism in most regions of the world has impacted university studies heavily and quickly as demand growth induces a big jump in employment. This need has been especially felt in countries such as China, whose T&T market is growing by leaps and bounds. This paper discusses what type of higher education is proposed in the curricula adopted by some major Chinese programs that are benchmarks for the bourgeoning T&T studies in the rest of the country and which are the main ideas that inspire them.

Understandings of tourism theory

“…To the authors' best knowledge, this is the first study to provide empirical data from both academic and practitioner perspectives into the existing controversy over the nature and usefulness of tourism theory. Tourism research has mostly addressed issues of tourism theory using conceptual approaches (Aramberri, 2010;Xiao and Smith, 2007) or through analyses of the content of published studies (Smith and Lee, 2010;Xin et al, 2013). As such, this study provides an original contribution to existing literature by offering new empirical insights.…”

“…Other tourism scholars, nonetheless, have been unwilling to endorse the potential of tourism studies to develop a single theory. Among them Aramberri (2010) and McKercher and Prideaux (2014) indicate that there is no point looking for a general theory of tourism and that diverse theoretical perspectives should be applied in its study. Franklin and Crang (2001, p. 6) make this point clearly: "The theoretical net needs to be cast much wider so that tourist studies is constantly renewed by [.…”

“…Practical utility is a long-standing theme in tourism writings. In this respect, there are concerns about the insular world of tourism academics, who have established their own communication outlets independent from professional audiences (Aramberri, 2010), and the extent to which tourism theorising emerges as a displacement activity from management practices (Abram, 2010). There is also questioning about academics' inattention to the practical applicability of their research, which has led to a troubling disconnect between tourism academia and industry (Jenkins, 1999;Harrison, 2010).…”

Beyond Eurocentrism in tourism: a paradigm shift to mobilities

“…Rather than as a collection of bounded entities, as they were conceived in modernist "methodological nationalism" (Wimmer & Glick Schiller, 2003), societies came to be perceived as merged in an encompassing "boundless network of diverse flows [of people, goods, capital, information and knowledge], interconnected by nodes" or moorings (Hannam et al, 2006, p. 5). This "networked" understanding of societies has drawn criticism that the mobilities paradigm has done little more than "lump" together adjacent phenomena (Aramberri, 2010), mirroring the wider scientific debate on "lumpers" and "splitters" (Pearce, 2011). Lumping approaches attempt to create patterns from diversity whereas splitting approaches put emphasis on difference, context and complexity (ibid).…”

Destination Appraisal for European Cultural Tourism to Iran

“…To some researchers, it is the authenticity of cultures that is sought through analogies with pilgrimage (MacCannell, ), whereas others (e.g. Cohen, ; Aramberri, ) argue that such simple views on motivation are unrealistic. The relatively simple categorizations of tourists by early theorists on tourism, such as Cohen (), based on patterns and behaviour have given way to more sophisticated discussions on the viewing and experiencing of destinations (Urry, ).…”