This is a fully revised edition of the groundbreaking study on tourism, which was originally published in 1990. The original chapters have been empirically updated and many new research findings incorporated and evaluated.

This Second Edition deepens our understanding of how the tourist gaze orders and regulates the relationship with the tourist environment, demarcating the `other' and identifying the `out-of-the-ordinary'. It elucidates the relationship between tourism and embodiment and elaborates on the connections between mobility as a mark of modern and postmodern experience and the attraction of tourism as a lifestyle choice.

The result is a book that builds on the proven strengths of the first edition and revitalizes the argument to address the needs of researchers and students in the new century.

Praise for the First Edition:

`There is much to be applauded here...this is an engaging and thought provoking book which should be read by those interested in advertising and the changing nature of contemporary culture' - Contemporary Sociology

`The book is written in a very accessible style that would serve as a good point of entry for anyone interested in leisure, tourism, and cultural change in contemporary societies. The scope of Urry's book is breathtaking, one is left with a feeling of coming to terms with the complex set of social relations that are tourism, both in their production and consumption' - Planning Practice and Research