Tourism is an essentially visual experience: we leave our homes so as to travel to see places, thus adding to our personal knowledge about, and experience of, the world. The study of tourism as a complex social phenomenon, beyond simply business, is increasing in importance, and by providing an examination of perceptions of culture and society in tourism destinations through the tourist's eyes, this book discusses how destinations were, and are, created and perceived through the 'lens' of the tourist's gaze.

Contributions by: Stefania Antonioni, Kathleen Baker, Roberta Bartoletti, Ketwadee Buddhabhumbhitak, Maria Cardeira da Silva, Teresa Costa, Hilary du Cros, Elisabeth Dumont, David Dunn, Kevin James, James Moir, Jana-Axinja Paschen, Lisa Power, Les Roberts, Sergej Stoetzer, Gayathri Wijesinghe, Freya Higgins-Desbiolles, Philip Xie