Overview

Drawing on recent trends in geography, anthropology, environmental and tourism studies, the chapters in this anthology employ a political ecology approach to the analysis of tourism development and impacts on the community and environment. The volume begins by chronicling interdisciplinary perspectives on political ecology of tourism as well as how the subject has been treated in tourism studies to date. It addresses why political ecology has been given so little attention, despite the widespread consideration of the environment and politics in tourism studies. As the chapters in this anthology make clear, political ecologies of tourism are mediated by a range of political, economic and cultural relations of power. As a result of these relations, some ecological concerns are privileged while others are marginalized. This book advances our understanding of the role of political, economic and environmental concerns in tourism development and impacts on the community and environment. It offers the reader a critical and empirically grounded understanding of the contemporary relevance of political ecology to address tourism related issues such as power, uneven development, environmentalism, globalization and political economy. This book will be valuable reading for those interested in the intersection of geography, anthropology and tourism studies.