Circuits of tourism: Stepping beyond the 'production/consumption' dichotomy

Abstract

The current blurring of the boundaries between economic and cultural geog raphies raises many issues within the geographical study of tourism. This paper addresses the crucial question of the value of dichotomous approaches, from either production or consumption perspectives. The neo-Gramscian concept of hegemony is then presented as a key theoretical framework that lays a foundation for stepping beyond binary logic. Critical theorists within cultural studies maintain that by creating a new Gramscian terrain based on negotiation between the production and consumption processes, both can be simultaneously considered, as each is interconnected through reproduction. These assertions then, lead to a framework that conceptualizes tourism as a nexus of circuits operating within production-consumption dialectics enabled by the processes of negotiated (re)production. Discussion reveals that geography lies at the heart of these processes, as tourism is inseparable from the spaces and places in which it is created, imagined, perceived and experienced.