Table of Contents

I: Preface PART I: INTRODUCTION 1: Hopeful Tourism: a Transformational Perspective PART II: TRANSFORMATION AND TOURISM 2: Transformation and Transformational Learning Theory 3: Connection between Travel, Tourism and Transformation 4: Not ‘On Vacation’: Survival Escapist Travel as an Agent of Transformation PART III: WELLNESS, RETREAT, RELIGIOUS AND SPIRITUAL TOURISM 5: Transforming Quality of Life through Wellness Tourism 6: Retreat Tourism as a Form of Transformational Tourism 7: Nearer to God – Transformational Experiences of Short-term Mission Travellers 8: The Transformative Power of Yoga Tourism PART IV: EXTREME SPORTS, BACKPACKING AND CULTURAL TOURISM 9: Extreme Sports as Transformational Tourism 10: Returning Home: Reflections on Lifestyle Transformation Resulting from International Backpacker Travels 11: Finding Themselves in San Blas, Panama PART V: WWOOFING AND ECOTOURISM 12: WWOOFing Tourists, Beaten Tracks and Transformational Paths 13: The Next Stage of Eco-travel: Facilitating Transformation through Personal Ethics PART VI: VOLUNTEER AND EDUCATIONAL TOURISM 14: Acculturation, Re-entry and Transformation: the Story of a Volunteer Tourist 15: Travel for Education: a Force for Peace and Cross-cultural Understanding? 16: Doing Good for God’s Sake: the Role of Religion in Altruism. The Case of Volunteer Tourism 17: Conclusion

Promotional Information

The first book on the market to focus on the emerging topic of transformational tourism, which is of significant current interest.

About the Author

Yvette Reisinger is Adjunct Professor of Business at James Cook University in Singapore 574421.

Her research interests include cross-cultural differences in behavior, communication, and socio-cultural impacts of tourism. PhD is Head of the Department of Business at Swansea University, UK. A strong proponent of advocacy scholarship, he was one of originators of the notion of hopeful tourism scholarship and is co-chair of the biennial Critical Tourism Studies Conference Series. Nigel has a background in leisure policy and public sector tourism and public relations management. He is passionately interested in the connections between tourism, social justice, identity and place and has written or edited 15 books in these areas. Nigel is an editorial board member of several leading international journals including Place Branding & Public Diplomacy, Hospitality & Society and Vacation Marketing and is an Associate Editor of the Annals of Tourism Research. Dr. Omar Moufakkir is a professor, MA programs course leader at Stenden University in the Netherlands, and the editor of 'The Journal of Tourism and Peace Research'. His current research focuses on tourism and peace and the effects of immigration on destination image and travel propensity.

Reviews

"This collection of essays reflects the gradual shift of the tourism literature from the mechanisms of tourism (transportation, hospitality, etc.) to a broad focus on the experience of tourist. The tourist is the focal point of "value-added tourism" in this work, where besides traveling from postcard site to postcard site, the tourist views the experience through a variety of transformational lenses. Chapters, written by contributors from around the world, demonstrate that travel and tourism, "if developed in a proper from, can contribute to human transformation, growth and development, and change human behavior and our relationship with the world." These transformations are explored in sections titled 'Wellness, Retreat, Religious and Spiritual Tourism, ' 'Extreme Sports, Backpacking and Cultural Tourism, ' 'WWOOFing and Ecotourism, ' and 'Volunteer and Educational Tourism.' Editor Reisinger (Temple Univ.) has produced a work that presents these perspectives in a lively, well-written manner. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduate through faculty and research collections-- "CHOICE" (11/1/2013 12:00:00 AM)