Are tourists interesting?

Abstract

This chapter makes the argument that tourists are interesting to many parties – businesses, communities, tourists themselves, sometimes the media and politicians, and to researchers. The terms ‘tourist behaviour’ and ‘experience’ are explained and linked. Any understanding of tourists needs to appreciate what counts as research rather than everyday opinion, the relevance of research at several scales and the paradigms or common ways of conducting research. The chapter highlights interesting ways to develop research topics and suggests some leading areas for further work.