The anthropology of tourism

Abstract

This paper considers some of the issues in the anthropology of modern tourism, emphasizing comparative and dynamic perspectives. Building on the works of MacCannell, V. Turner, and E. Cohen, the relations of tourism to ritual, play, and pilgrimage are considered. Two kinds of tourism are identified: periodic or annual vacations, paralleling cyclical rites of intensification, and arduous, self-testing tourism, paralleling rites of passage. The relation of tourism to class, life style, and cultural change are examined, focusing on the factors; discretionary income, cultural self-confidence, and socio-symbolic reversals. The paper concludes with an examination of research methodology and suggests important avenues for further research, including studies of non-Western tourism, of tourism in relation to such institutions as museums, festivals, and theme parks, and of individual biographical recreational and tourist growth patterns.